The Memories that Could've Been
by rioludoodle
Summary: If little Yota had lived, and no one had forgotten, what kind of childhood could Naruto have had? One with more friends, for sure. In this collection of one-shots and mini-arcs, watch as Naruto and friends, inside Konoha and out, build the memories that could've been.
1. Ch 1 - Friends to the end, I promise

**Author's foreword: **

This is the story of what could've been,

If only a little boy could've been.

This is the story of what never was,

The story of a happy childhood.

This is the story of what won't ever be,

A story of happy memories.

This is the story of what would've been,

If only a little boy had kept his friends.

* * *

**Friends to the End, I promise**

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto Uzumaki, a blond-haired boy no older than eight ran up to his favorite teacher after class. Dressed in a white T-shirt with a leaf symbol on it, and simple brown cargo shorts, his footsteps echoed in the academy hallway. "Iruka-sensei!" He called out again.

Iruka, a man of average height with his brown hair tied in a spiky ponytail, turned to see his favorite, and extremely neglected, student running towards him. The teacher was carrying a rather large stack of paperwork which seemed to like clinging to his chunin vest.

"Naruto!" Iruka exclaimed happily. "How're you?"

Naruto ran up to his teacher and proudly said. "I made friends!"

"Really?" The chunin replied curiously. "Who?"

"There's Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Sakura, Kiba and- uh, and Akamaru!" The child exclaimed, covering up the last name he'd been about to say with the name of Kiba's little nin-puppy.

"Hey, they're all in my class with you." Iruka said as teacher and student walked out of the academy doors. A gust of wind blew past and the piece of paper at the top of his pile fluttered up and over his head, and as Iruka tried to grab it on a reflex, he dropped the rest of the pile. "Ah! My papers!" He shouted out.

Little Naruto helped his teacher pick up the offending papers while chattering away. "Yup! We all met together a few days ago, uh, Saturday, I think! We played hide and seek! And snuck around the village! It was lotsa fun!"

Iruka thought about this as he grabbed a few wayward tests that needed to be graded. _It's great that Naruto's finally found some friends. I just hope their parents are the understanding kind._

A strong gust of wind ruffled the blond's hair and he stood up. "Gotta go now, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto announced as he handed his teacher a few papers. "My friends are waiting!" He waved as he ran off in the general direction of the Hokage Monument.

"See ya later, Naruto." Iruka waved back with his right hand, another gust of wind making him drop his papers again as he did so. "Ah! My papers! Not again!"

* * *

While Naruto distracted their teacher, the friends he'd so recently made ducked into classrooms at the academy. Sakura and Ino nicked a few books from the library. They came out with items they hadn't been holding before as they sneakily made their way to the doors.

_Darn it!_ Shikamaru thought as he and the others walked out carrying bags full of stolen school supplies. They were out in the open and without any nearby cover. The doors to the academy didn't open from the outside after class hours either. He froze where he stood. _Iruka-sensei'll see us! _

Then, Naruto noticed their presence while Iruka's back was to them and made a signal by putting his thumb and index fingers together in a circle next to his ear. Iruka didn't notice, but the children's other friend did.

A little boy named Yota was hiding in a clump of bushes at the edge of the school campus. He had messy brown hair flattened by a bandaged cap on his head, a rounded face, and curious green eyes. He wore a tattered, brown cloak with an oversized, faded blue shirt underneath. Where the whites of his eyes should've been, there was only black, though besides that he looked like a normal kid. He then saw Naruto's signal and whistled a short tune that sounded a bit like birdsong. Gusts of wind blew, echoing the tune, and one of them blew the top piece of paper on Iruka's pile up and over his head.

That provided enough of a distraction for Shikamaru and his squad of friends to escape, Kiba and Akamaru leading the way. They ran around the corner of the academy building while Naruto helped Iruka pick up his papers. As soon as they were out of sight, Yota whistled a long, flat note.

A gust of wind echoed that note as it blew through Naruto's hair. Naruto, catching the signal, stood up and gave the papers to Iruka. "Gotta go now, Iruka-sensei!" He announced, handing his teacher the papers he'd picked up. "My friends are waiting!" He ran off in the general direction of the Hokage Monument, disappearing around the corner of the road near the bushes where Yota was hidden.

Yota couldn't resist a prank as Iruka waved goodbye. He whistled the first three notes of what sounded like a lullaby and gusts of wind echoed the tune, blowing the teacher's papers out of his arms again. "Ah! My papers! Not again!" He hurriedly gathered them in a messy pile.

Yota giggled. He was having fun! Snowflakes suddenly formed mid-air and drifted to the ground, even though the weather was clear and sunny up above.

Iruka stood with his papers gripped tightly. Then he noticed the snow. "Huh? What?" Iruka dropped his papers in a pile at his feet. _Snow? This late in the spring?_

Yota covered his mouth in worry. He wasn't supposed to let it snow! He focused on his mission seriously, and the flutters of snowflakes stopped falling.

Iruka rubbed his eyes and blinked, and suddenly it wasn't snowing anymore. "I need to take a break. Now I'm seeing things." He picked up his papers. "And talking to myself." He muttered. Iruka left the academy campus and rounded the street corner in the opposite direction Naruto had gone.

For a few moments after Iruka left, all was quiet on the academy grounds. Then, gusts of wind blew in a tuneless melody, and the children came out to play.

"Mission accomplished." Eight-year-old Shikamaru said, lazily looking up at the sky.

"Yatta!"

"Hooray!"

"W-we got the books!"

"Yippee!"

Yota jumped up and down excitedly. "Teach me! Teach me! Promised you would!" Little Yota was so young, he couldn't have been more than five or six.

"We did, didn't we?" Shikamaru smiled as he remembered.

* * *

_Flashback..._

On the edge of the river, little Yota was half-drowned. Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Sakura rushed towards him, Akamaru barking worriedly on Kiba's head.

"Yota! Yota!" They called out, deeply concerned for their friend.

The soaking wet little boy coughed as he choked out water. His friend surrounded him and helped him sit up. "Don't get in trouble for me, guys..." he said, a childish lisp evident in his weak voice. "Just... forget..." He raised his hand, prepared to force a memory loss jutsu on his friends for their own good.

"No!" They yelled in unison.

"We don't want to forget!" Ino yelled, knowing what Yota wanted to do, likely because she was a Yamanaka.

Sakura shyly added. "W-we want to remember!"

Kiba exclaimed. "You're gonna be fine! We'll get you better!" Akamaru barked his agreement.

Shikamaru shed a few tears against his will. "You can come home with us!" He cried out.

Chouji gripped Yota's small hand. "Don't go, Yota." He added quietly.

"You're our friend!" Naruto summed up. "Friends to the end, promise us that!"

Yota smiled as he coughed up a little more water. _Maybe I'll make it after all... But those guys with the masks... If they come..._ "Friends to the end... I promise." He whispered.

Shikamaru kept crying. He didn't want to lose a friend - especially not like this! Not while trying to save them from ANBU! He forced himself to calm down at least a little, and _think_. He could get them out of this! Save Yota _and_ evade the ANBU! He was a Nara, plans were his specialty!

Naruto kept talking to Yota, trying to keep him awake. "Friends to the end! We'll play together!"

"And laugh together!" Ino exclaimed.

"And fight together!" Kiba shouted, Akamaru barking.

"And eat together!" Choji.

"And cry together." Shikamaru whispered, wiping away tears.

"And learn together." Sakura.

"We promise!" Everyone exclaimed together.

Yota smiled as he closed his eyes. He hoped he really would make it. He might not've been really alive, but for the first time in his life, he felt like he was. Friends, he had friends who cared about him. Not just a clan of traveling weather-merchants. Friends. "I promise..." He whispered again.

Shikamaru snapped back to reality, his head cleared and with a strategy in mind. "I've got a plan!" He was serious, and prepared to work to save Yota. "Naruto, you can do the Transformation Jutsu, right?"

"Uh, yeah!" Naruto replied.

"Pretend to be Yota and lead those ANBU off our tracks." He ordered. "Get back to your apartment after they catch you. Got it?" A nod. "Good. Now!"

"Right!" Naruto formed a hand seal and yelled out. "Transformation Jutsu!" A puff of smoke, and he was a passable replica of Yota. He ran back towards the Leaf Village they'd just rescued Yota from.

Shikamaru commanded the others. "Pick up Yota, we're sneaking him into Naruto's apartment."

They did so, Ino lifting up his shoulders, Choji at his chest, Kiba and Shikamaru lifting Yota's legs. Sakura kept an eye out for people as they snuck out of the forest and past the academy grounds. It was starting to get darker. They stuck to the shadows, moving through the city unseen, knowing that their parents were likely wondering where they were. At one point, they were moving by rooftop before landing outside Naruto's open window. The blond was waiting inside, though there weren't any ANBU interrogating him on Yota.

"Guys!" He whisper-yelled. "Get in! Hurry!"

They slid Yota in through the window frame and onto the bed. They piled blankets on him and worried themselves to sleep. When they woke up the next morning, it was a relief to see Yota awake and eagerly looking out at the village.

"Yota! You're alright!" Naruto exclaimed, the happiest of them all to see his first friend was okay.

"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" Yota bounced on the bed twice before hopping to the ground. He tripped over a textbook on the ground and picked it up. "Hmm?" He opened it upside down and let his eyes rove over the strange ink blots inside. "What's it say?" He asked his friends innocently.

"Hmm?" Shikamaru was surprised. "You can't read? Or write?"

"Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!" Yota shook his head.

Shikamaru smiled a lazy, plotting smile. "Well then, we made a promise to learn together. Why don't we start with teaching you how to read?" He suggested.

"Uh-huh!" Yota nodded eagerly. "Learn how to read!"

"Great." The Nara said. "We'll have to get supplies from the academy. Missing books and papers will go unnoticed there. Now, here's the plan..."

_Flashback end..._

* * *

Shikamaru felt happy that their plan had succeeded. "Alright, let's get to the treehouse!" He said.

"Right!" Everyone else responded.

"Yatta! Race ya there!" Naruto ran ahead into the forest, sticking his tongue out at Kiba.

Kiba yelled back. "Hey, no fair! You got a head start!" The eight-year-old Inuzuka began running after the blond, Akamaru bouncing happily on his head.

Laughter rang out as the children raced to Yota's makeshift home in the forest. They ran past bushes, jumped over logs, ducked under branches, and wove their way through the trees.

"Ha ha!" Kiba yelled as he passed Naruto.

Shikamaru jogged behind everyone else at a lazy, leisurely pace as he observed his friends and reflected on the fairly recent events Yota's appearance caused. _It might be troublesome, but friends are worth it._ He grinned as he picked up his pace and shouted. "Hey! Wait up!" And so, the children played.

* * *

**AN:** First chapter, what d'ya think?


	2. Ch 2 - Learning together

**Learning together**

Shikamaru Nara was very patient, and very clever. Especially considering that he was an eight-year-old. But even for the lazy genius, Naruto and Yota were aggravating. As it turned out, Naruto only knew the basics of reading, putting him just a little ahead of Yota as far as that went. Shikamaru had wondered why he couldn't read very well, seeing how they both went to the academy, but then remembered that the energetic blond was an orphan. _Must be hard, not having parents..._

He shook his head to clear it before focusing on the task at hand. "Okay, what does this say?" He pointed at the tattered cloth sign that they'd found with Yota.

"That one's easy!" Naruto yelled out. "It says, 'Weather for sale'." He blinked. "Wait, what does that mean?"

Shikamaru looked to Yota for an answer. "We found it with you." He said. Their other friends gathered closer to hear. They were curious about it too. Kiba and Akamaru crouched down next to Naruto, while Ino and Sakura sat directly across from them. Choji and Shikamaru were on opposite sides of the circle, between those two groups, and Yota was in the middle.

Yota dropped the daisy he was picking petals off of and scratched his head. "Belonged to my clan!" He exclaimed.

"Hm?" Now it was even more of a mystery. Shikamaru was thinking. _If Yota had a clan, why did they leave him? Where are they now? Did they all control weather?__ Well, that'd explain the sign..._

It was Ino who asked the question they were all thinking. "Where's your clan now?"

Yota frowned a little at that. "Gone. Died." He mumbled.

Though his new friends filled the void a lot, his old clan still held a place in his heart. However, his response was misinterpreted by his friends, and Yota knew that. They figured that his clan had died, leaving him. It was really the other way around. He'd died, and left them. Not that he'd tell them. They might decide he was too freaky and leave... Other children in villages he'd been to had been driven off by his weather powers. He didn't need his new friends to know he was dead too. He was afraid they'd leave him.

Yota sniffled as a few tears gathered at the corner of his eyes. _I want to keep my friends!_ He thought. _Can't tell them!_ It started drizzling, even though the sun was out and not a single cloud was visible in the sky.

His tears and sniffles were misinterpreted as well, and so the responses didn't comfort him as much as they should have.

"It's okay, Yota." Choji said, not snacking for once in his life. "We're your friends now. We'll take care of you."

"Yeah." Ino nodded.

Kiba smiled and added. "Your clan might be gone, but we're still here."

Shikamaru gave a small nod.

It was Naruto's reply that struck a chord with Yota. "We'll always be here for you, no matter what happens. What else are friends for?"

_No matter what happens..._ The words echoed in Yota's mind. He perked up at that line and the drizzle stopped.

An enormous tree stood behind the group of children. Shikamaru looked at it, reflecting on what the old, half-dead tree meant to them all, tossing away the book on learning how to read he'd been holding before.

The ancient thing was giant, but broken and gray. They'd thought it was completely dead, but as it turned out, the thing had survived somehow. Yota liked to water it regularly, and as Naruto had found out, the branches were sturdy, even while nearly dead. Though it had only been a few days since they'd met Yota and started hanging around the tree, the enormous oak was already regrowing branches, and green buds were beginning to show on the few that hadn't broken. They took care of it, and repaired the old, damaged tree house in it's branches, at least a little bit. Though the ancient oak was damaged and standing alone in a forest, it's branches still reached for the sun. There was a circular clearing around the oak, as if none of the other trees wanted to be near it. The children did though.

They'd saved the tree, and started building something new on top of what was there. They took care of it, even though they'd never seen it before and had no obligation to. They'd grown fond of the the ancient thing, and all hoped that it could hang on.

When Shikamaru asked his friends what they thought of the tree, they'd all responded differently, but the core message was the same at it's very heart. Kiba thought the old oak was weird, but good and something worth protecting. Ino thought it was a plant that needed saving. Sakura thought it was a safe place, one where no one was mean to her. Choji thought it was symbolic, but couldn't name exactly what of. Naruto thought it was fun to play on, and gave them all something in common that they cared about it. A base, common ground, literally.

Shikamaru's own opinion? The old, half-dead tree was Yota.

Metaphorically, the parallels were all there. They took care of the tree, they took care of Yota. They played on the tree, they played with Yota. The tree had survived being nearly dead, so had Yota. They kept the tree a secret, they kept Yota a secret, telling ANBU that he'd gotten away across the river. They were building a new tree house with whatever materials they could get their hands on, and they built new memories with Yota.

Behind him, Ino was telling a story of what she'd seen happen in the market district the day before. Something about an old lady beating up a chunin who wouldn't fight back, though Shikamaru wasn't paying much attention. Ino illustrated something with a nearby rock and her fist, which sent the rest of the group, minus Shikamaru, into spasms of laughter and giggling. As Yota giggled, a laughing breeze blew through the branches of the old, weathered tree, and snowflakes started falling on the gaggle of friends. Naruto caught one white flake on his tongue.

_This old oak..._ Shikamaru thought with a lazy smile, still looking at the half-dead tree. _It's brought us together._

* * *

**AN:** And there's the second chapter! Sorry that it's so short, but I couldn't add anything more without ruining the feel of the chapter. Please review and tell me what ya think!


	3. Ch 3 - Mission: Snack time - part 1

**Mission: Snack Time - Part 1**

A loud growling sound was heard as Ino finished her market district story. It was Yota's stomach rumbling. The little six-year-old could probably match Choji, Naruto, and Kiba as far as stuffing himself went. He put a hand over his empty belly and said. "Tummy hungry."

"Hm?" Kiba blinked. "Well, let's see here..." He climbed up the ancient oak behind them and glanced into the tree house. "Eh? We're all out!" He pulled out several paper shopping bags and shook them upside-down. Not even a crumb fell out.

Shikamaru, who was leaning against the trunk of the half-dead tree, sat up, a little more alert, and shifted to his knees while stretching. "Mmph." He scratched his back. "Well, guess it's time for a snack run. Gotta be more careful than we were during the classroom mission today though. Iruka-sensei nearly caught us."

"Snack run?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

"Oh, right!" Ino exclaimed. "You weren't here for the first few." She stood up and brushed off a few specks of dirt from her dress. The Yamanaka explained. "Yota can't buy his own food, so we need to get it for him from people in the village."

Naruto frowned as he realized the implications of that statement. "But... isn't that stealing?"

Ino waved the question off dismissively, like it wasn't anything to worry about. "It's just a little here an there. No one notices. Besides, we can't let Yota starve, can we?"

Naruto answered hesitantly after a brief moment of thought. "Well, I guess not."

"Sometimes I manage to bring a few extra bags of chips from home." Choji spoke up. "But for the most part, we just take what we can get away with." He shrugged.

Shy little Sakura stood beside Ino, her face looking towards her feet. She said quietly. "Erm, it should be around dinner time now. There might be some people eating at the park."

"Good point." Shikamaru responded as he swapped into what Naruto secretly thought of as his 'leader' mode. "Okay, it's getting late, so we need to get this done before our parents miss us, it'll have to be fast. Ino, Sakura, Choji, you guys go to the park - make sure no one notices you. Kiba, you, me, and Naruto'll check that walkway we hit last time. Leave Akamaru though, Yota needs someone to stay with him. All of us will have to make sure to get as much as we can. Everyone got it?"

A shy nod from Sakura.

"Arf!" Akamaru.

"Got it!" Kiba, with a thumbs up sign.

"Sure!" Ino, with a confident smile on her face.

Choji simply stood and said. "Alright."

"Sir, yes sir!" Naruto, with a half-mocking, half-respectful salute and a wink.

"Good." Shikamaru nodded approvingly as Kiba picked Akamaru off his head and dropped the puppy next to Yota. "Now, 'Mission: Snack Time' is underway!"

They all rushed off in two groups, blurs from Yota's point of view, running away from him and the old oak tree, and back towards the rest of the village. He petted Akamaru, who he'd hated at first, but grew to like. Yota suddenly felt lonelier, though he knew that his friends would be back soon. It was getting closer to sunset, but the sunlight wouldn't disappear completely for another hour or so. His friends all had to go home before then - besides Naruto, but those grown-ups in the masks came looking for the blond when he had stayed out too late the night before. They weren't willing to risk that again.

Yota sighed. The nights were always lonely, and a little too cold. Though he'd only known his friends for a few days, they were close, as proven when they'd stolen academy supplies to help him that very same day.

Akamaru yipped as he crawled into Yota's lap, and the little boy lifted him onto his bandaged cap. Yota climbed up the ancient trunk of the oak tree and wiggled inside the tree house. It smelled a little funny, but it was dry and warmer to stay in overnight than on the ground. A small, white snake was inside the tree house. It slithered towards the boy and the dog, but as Yota froze in a trance, Akamaru chased the legless reptile away. Yota shook off the creepy feeling he had. His friends would be back soon, and they could all keep him company for a little while before they went home.

Yota picked up Akamaru again and started whistling. He remembered a conversation he'd had with Naruto when they'd talked to each other that day.

* * *

_Flashback..._

There was a log sitting in the middle of a small forest clearing, which was filled with bright springtime flowers of every color you could think of. There were tall grasses as the edges of the meadow, but those soon gave way to an expanse of trees, filtering in rays of sunshine to the forest floor. Sitting on the log in the clearing were two little children. One was Yota, his tattered brown cloak fluttering in a slight breeze. The other was Naruto, who was looking at Yota oddly.

"Teach me, teach me!" Yota exclaimed, happily flailing his limbs around. "Fffff! Fffff!" He made a bad attempt at whistling.

"Hm?" Naruto blinked. "You want me to teach you how to whistle? Why?"

Yota made motions with his arms trying to illustrate something that wasn't very obvious to Naruto. "You! On the pole, yesterday! Looked angry, but then you started whistling, and you were happy!"

Naruto remembered that now. He'd been bitterly reflecting on his lot in life, looking up at the Hokage Monument while sitting on the railing of a thin raised walkway. He'd gotten tired of thinking about it and decided to forget it for a while. Or at least to try. He'd leaned back over the railing, hanging on by the crooks of his knees, whistling a tuneless song. He'd smiled then, right before he noticed an odd-looking little boy watching him.

The child had a rounded face and a constant blush, along with spiky brown hair that hung down to his mid-back. The strangest thing about the boy were his eyes though. There weren't any visible pupils, though that was fairly common in Konoha, and the irises were an apple green, but the whites of his eyes were black. Naruto dismissed it though, there were plenty of other people with weird eyes in the Leaf Village. The little boy ran off.

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto exclaimed after reflecting on the memory. He then gloomily explained to Yota. "I wasn't really happy though, I just didn't want to be mad or sad anymore. I just whistled so I could pretend."

"That's okay!" Yota replied. "You pretended, but I still wanna learn!"

Naruto looked surprised, but gave a wide, genuine grin and started instructing Yota on how to whistle.

_Flashback end..._

* * *

Yota petted Akamaru as a sad, lonely drizzle began pattering on the roof of the old, more-damaged-than-not tree house. It was getting darker, though the sun could still be seen outside. He didn't like the night. Or the dark. The dark reminded him of the snake-man and the glasses fellow he'd seen when he woke up after being dead. The night was lonely, and the dark was scary. He always stayed inside the tree house when it was dark. He wanted to pretend it wasn't so lonely. He listened to the patter of the rain he caused with his sadness. He waited for his friends. And he whistled with a smile plastered on his face.

* * *

At the park, there were several civilian families having a picnic. Good. Even an adult civilian couldn't notice a speedy trained ninja - not even an academy one. Ino led Sakura and Choji so that they were hidden in the shade of a tree. They were quiet as Ino spied on the closest targets.

"Shh." Ino held a finger to her lips. She tapped Choji's shoulder and pointed North, then waved Sakura's attention towards the south. She pointed to herself and then the east. Towards the west was the forest Yota resided in. The other two children nodded to Ino's silent directions, and the three scampered off to acquire Yota's dinner, paper bags in hand.

They dashed from one gathering to another, swiping a sandwich here, a juice box there, a bag of junk food every now and then, and occasionally a rice ball. The three ninja-in-training met up again, paper bags now full, together at the edge of the park, where the forest began taking over. While for most people the regularly maintained and fairly clean park was safety, and the point where the wild trees began was dangerous, it was the reverse for Yota and his friends. The park was where they could be caught stealing, and the forest was their hideout. Until they had to go home, at least.

"Everyone got enough?" Ino asked.

She received a quiet "Yes." from Sakura and a muffled. "Mm-hmm." from Choji.

"Choji!" She grabbed the bag of chips out of his hand. "These are for Yota!" Ino scolded the Akimichi. "Come one, we gotta hurry back so we get home before sunset!"

They ran into the forest.

* * *

Near the center of the village, between the Academy and the Hokage Tower, there was a wide public walkway with trees planted in the middle and benches next to both railings. It was a popular spot for people to gather to talk or eat a take-out meal. Here, a quick, quiet, and stealthy academy student could dash through and grab a few pieces of food. Unfortunately, neither Kiba nor Naruto was the quietest ninja-in-training around. It was common knowledge that they practically competed for the position of most noticable academy student.

It was a stroke of good luck for them that Shikamaru was a Nara, and thus very familiar with diversionary tactics that could use their talents for attention-grabbing. _I seem to be using this tactic a lot, lately..._ Shikamaru thought.

He looked around the walkway from beneath the shade of one of the trees in the middle, seeing more people around than usual. They could get a bigger haul this time. He tapped Naruto and Kiba on their shoulders to get their attention on him.

"Hm. 'kay." The eight-year-old Nara began explaining the plan. "Diversions again. You two distract everyone with something big, pretend to fall over the railing or whatever. I'll fill all three of our bags while they're looking at you."

"Understood! Sir!"

"Yes, sir, General Shika, sir!" Both of them saluted this time. Once again it was half-teasing, but also half genuine respect for Shikamaru. _I don't get these two... Troublesome. With a capital 'T'. _

He took the white paper shopping bags from them and leaned against the bark of the maple behind him. For some reason, he missed the ancient oak tree already. It was more comfortable to sit back and relax against. "I'm waiting." He stated.

Naruto and Kiba ran out from under the shade and put on a rather convincing act of playing a game of chase. Naruto ran away from Kiba, laughing happily as Kiba sprinted after him.

_Shck schk schk schk!_ Went the sounds of their standard-issue sandals against the pavement as they passed by Shikamaru again.

The lazy genius noticed that the two of them were somehow gaining the attention of everyone else already, even though it was just a game of chase they were playing. No different than the one two other children played twenty-five meters away._ Somehow,_ Shikamaru noted, _They're getting the attention of everyone who notices them. The adults are just freezing whatever they're doing. Everyone older than us by more than five or six years is going out of their way to walk on the other side of the walkway. Why?_ He couldn't help but wonder.

Shikamaru tucked that question away for later as he saw Naruto and Kiba break the circling patter around him they'd kept up for the past minute. Kiba chased Naruto towards the railing, and the blond looked behind him at the Inuzuka trying to grab his shoulder. The moment Naruto slipped between the too-wide bars, tripped, and spun around to grab one of the metallic bars was passably realistic.

He was suddenly hanging nearly twenty feet in the air, with nothing but his own two hands to hang on to the the bars he slipped through. A stream of water at least eight feet deep swept by below. Though it might've looked like a dangerous fall, it was really fairly safe as long as you knew how to swim. Not that the civilians needed to know that.

"Ahhh!" Naruto screamed.

Kiba stopped at the railing and grabbed one of Naruto's hands, gripping it tightly and pulling. He ground his heels into the cement, yanking his friend up a few inches. "Help! Someone! Anyone! Help us!" Kiba yelled. It was half-decent acting, and Shikamaru was certain that Kiba's shout would get everyone running over to help the two children who looked to be in a dangerous situation.

He received a very unexpected reaction from the people on the walkway. Most people turned and looked in another direction, walking away hurriedly. Several people just glared in Kiba and Naruto's direction. The children pointed out the troubles of the Inuzuka and the Uzumaki to their parents, but the grown-ups just picked them up and took them away. Two or three jerks even had the nerve to smirk and watch the two children's struggle. One of them was drinking out of a soda can, like it was some kind of show.

Shikamaru was shocked and disgusted. _What kind of monsters could just ignore this when they could help?!_ He dropped the paper bags and ran to his friends, grabbing Naruto's other wrist and helping Kiba pull the boy up. It took a little more effort than Shikamaru was accustomed to, but they got Naruto back on top of the walkway. The blond looked at the people on the bridge, who looked back at him coldly. He turned away from the unfeeling gazes.

Naruto looked at the ground sadly. _They hate me. They've always hated me. And now we can't even finish the mission and it's all my fault!_

Shikamaru almost seemed to read his mind and knelt down to talk to him. "It's okay, Naruto. We don't blame you. It's those jerks who didn't help who should be blamed. We're your friends."

Kiba immediately and loudly shouted out his agreement, being much more to the point than Shikamaru was. "What the heck is _WRONG_ with you people?!" He pointed accusingly at the crowds, who looked back at him with the same cold eyes they looked at Naruto with. Though to a much lesser degree. Some, the soda guy included, had the nerve to look pityingly at the Inuzuka. "You left my friend hanging off the bridge! He could've been hurt! You're all a whole bunch of stupid _JERKS_!" He sounded like he had a much worse word in mind.

"Come on, Kiba. We ought to go." Shikamaru placed a placating hand on Kiba's shoulder.

Naruto nodded dejectedly. "Yeah. Let's go meet up with the others."

The three of them began walking back in Yota's direction, Kiba pausing to turn around and yell. "Basta-" He was cut off by Shikamaru clamping a hand over his jaw and yanking him away.

* * *

**AN:** This chapter is a bit darker than the others. The last two have been relatively happy chapters, or at least bittersweet, but this third chapter is darker. It's a two-part arc too, so the next installment'll be coming around sometime soon. I've never written scenes like this before, so please let me know what you think of this in a review.


	4. Ch 4 - Mission: Snack time - part 2

**Mission: Snack time - Part 2**

_Whooo! Wheeeee! Whoooeee!_

Yota whistled, which cheered him up some, and the much cooler breeze of sundown echoed the tuneless song. He swung his legs back and forth over the one of the open edges of the badly damaged tree house.

Said tree house obviously used to be a cube, but it was now missing two walls and a good portion of the ceiling. The floor was full of holes too, but that was firmly supported by the tree branches. The opening of the tree house faced towards the planks of wood nailed to the trunk as steps, which made it easier to get in. The one wall that wasn't missing pieces had a creaky window frame. The saving grace of the tree house that made it viable as Yota's home was the one corner that was preserved rather nicely, with the nearby walls mostly intact, the floorboards solid, and the portion of remaining roof overhead without any leaks. There was a pile of blankets there, nice, thick, and warm. Yota's friends had taken them and brought them to the tree house on the Ino-Shika-Chou trio's laundry day, which had been just the day before.

_Friends for only four days..._ Yota thought._ Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today. I have good friends. It's not good to steal though... _That thought always bothered the six-year-old. It niggled in the back of his mind when he ate, and came out to dance when he was alone. Though no one had taken too much from any one place, the little that Yota had wasn't his. He only owned the clothes on his back, and even those were starting to get filthy. He frowned. _Friends shouldn't get in trouble for jus' me._ He resolved to bring it up sometime when it got to be too much.

A rustling sound and the whispering crunch of grass under sandals signaled the arrival of one group. Yota figured it would be Ino, Sakura, and Chouji. The two other times his friends had gone on snack runs, though without Naruto and Kiba then, Shikamaru's group had always come back a little later. Yota leaned forward over the edge of the tree house's floor boards and waved.

"Ino! Choji! Sa-kur-a!" He sounded each name out childishly, but that could easily be excused by his age.

The three children ran to the base of the tree.

"Yota!" Ino shouted out, being the talker of the group. "We're coming up!" They slid their bags onto their forearms and climbed up the ladder of planks nailed to the trunk.

Yota backed up a few feet to make room for his friends to wiggle in. The ladder of wooden steps led to a round hole cut into the floor for people to climb up through.

"Here." Choji held out his bag first.

Yota bounced around in glee, happy at the thought of getting some dinner. He dug in a rummaged in the bag for a sandwich, stuffing it into his mouth whole.

"Wow, Yota." Ino shook her head exasperatedly, hands on her hips. "I really forgot how much you can eat." She took Sakura's held-out bag and dropped it next to her own in Yota's blanket corner.

Just then, Shikamaru's team arrived.

"Hey! We're coming up!" The eight-year-old Nara's voice was heard.

The four children and one nin-puppy already in the tree house scooted away from the entrance hole to make room. Shikamaru crawled in first, brushing off his knees before plopping himself down next to Choji. Kiba was next, muttering angry words that an eight-year-old really shouldn't have known under his breath. He sat down aggressively between Shikamaru and Akamaru, picking up his puppy and placing him on his head, leaving a space where the nin-puppy had been. Naruto was the last of their group to join the rest, slowly coming up through the hole in the floor with a dejected look on his face. He made his way towards the edge of the group, but Kiba grabbed the back of his collar and plonked the blond down where Akamaru had been before. Now Naruto was next to Kiba.

Shikamaru folded up three empty paper bags and tossed them onto Yota's blankets.

"Hm?" Ino noticed that they didn't bring anything back with them. "Hey! What happened to Mission: Snack Time? You were _supposed_ to get food!"

Naruto gloomed next to Kiba.

Shikamaru startled and hurriedly shushed the Yamanaka. "Shh! Don't talk about that!"

"Eh?" Ino noticed Naruto's self-depreciating expression. "Oh..."

Sakura crawled a few feet closer to Naruto and shyly asked out of concern. "What happened?"

Kiba growled. "For the last time, Naruto, it wasn't your fault! It's those dumb civilians who didn't do nothin' to help that're the jerks!"

Though Akamaru hadn't been there, the nin-puppy could tell that their friend needed cheering up. "Rarf!" The little puppy yipped out supportively.

Shikamaru nodded an agreement.

Naruto looked up and smiled faintly. "Thanks, guys. I... I'm just gonna go back to my apartment now... See ya." He stood and climbed back down through the entrance hole.

Watching the blond trudge off in into the trees and towards the run-down apartment he lived in, Shikamaru was thinking. _He called it his 'apartment'. Not 'home'. Has he ever actually called somewhere 'home'? _He sighed. That wasn't a very good train of thought._ Naruto... _

Choji blinked and scratched his head in confusion. The big-boned Akimichi asked. "What was up with that? Something happen during the snack run?"

Kiba scowled and nodded.

Shikamaru began the story. "We went to the walkway and hid under one of the trees. I made a plan for Kiba and Naruto to distract everyone by pretending to slip through the railing. It was working pretty well, until... well..."

An angry Kiba finished the tale. "Naruto was hanging onto the rail and hangin' over the edge, but when we called out for help, no one did anything! They just... _looked_ at us. Me and Shikamaru had to haul him back up." He growled. The Inuzuka were loyal to their friends, and Kiba, like any member of his clan, wouldn't stand for something like that happening.

Sakura gave a stuttering comment first. "T-that's awful!"

Choji could hardly believe it. "What? Why? I know that Naruto isn't very well liked, but... that's..." He didn't finish his sentence.

Ino shouted out. "We're getting to the bottom of this!" She clambered to her feet and pumped a fist in the air. "Once we solve this mystery, we're gonna fix things for Naruto! No one messes with _my_ friends!"

As Ino finished her speech, Sakura noticed that the shadows were awfully long, and the light seemed dimmer than it was a few minutes ago. The pink-haired academy student spoke up tentatively. "G-guys, it's starting to get darker."

"Oh no!" Kiba exclaimed. "We gotta get home!" He jumped down the hole in the floor, Akamaru on his head, and shouted. "Bye, Yota!" As he ran towards the village.

"Ah! We gotta go too! Come on, Sakura!" Ino grabbed her best friend's wrist and the two girls clambered down the wooden plank ladder, Chouji following immediately behind them. "Later, Yota!" Ino shouted a farewell as they ran off.

"See ya, Yota!" Choji yelled out behind him, running after the two girls.

Shikamaru didn't leave immediately as his friends had. He glanced at his surroundings. Slightly dusty tree house. Thick blankets in the corner. Creaky wooden window frame. No Yota. "Troublesome." The Nara muttered as he gazed at the darkening sky, which was brightened by a few winking stars. "Yota's gone to talk to Naruto." He sighed. _Gotta get home before Mom decides to get on my case._ Shikamaru clambered down the wooden steps nailed to the giant trunk and began walking home. _Least I know Naruto'll get Yota back here safe. The guy worries about his friends too much. He needs to worry more 'bout himself._

A little over twenty-five minutes later, Shikamaru was at the forest's edge. _Naruto's always smiling, but it seems almost like a habit. It's only real when he's with us or Iruka-sensei. _The eight-year-old remembered a book of sayings his father had given him for his last birthday. It was mostly full of clever quotes on strategy, but one of the few lines that weren't came to mind at the moment. _'A man who always smiles is not a happy man.'_

* * *

Naruto stepped out of the forest entered the academy grounds, standing right next to a familiar wooden swing. He looked up at the building, the faded paint of the walls and bright doors giving him a lonely sort of comfort, especially from his current point of view next to the swing he spent so much time on in the past.

A rustling sound came from behind him and his ears twitched. A twig snapped, and the blond spun around on reflex, flawed academy taijutsu stance at the ready. A shadowy form leaped clumsily over a small log and stepped into the dimming sunlight, revealing himself to be Yota.

"Yota!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "What're you doing here now? You know the ANBU could try to come after you here in the village. 'specially after dark."

The raggedy boy stepped closer to Naruto, looking up at the blond-haired child's face. Yota blinked once and smiled a soft, quiet smile, one that Naruto usually saw on Iruka. "D'ya remember what'cha said?"

Naruto was confused. "Heh? What'd I say?"

"The stuff you said before, 'bout being happy, not mad or sad." Yota replied, rocking back and forth on his heels and swinging his arms loosely by his side.

_Naruto gloomily said. "I wasn't really happy though, I just didn't want to be mad or sad anymore. I just whistled so I could pretend."_

_"That's okay!" Yota replied. "You pretended, but I still wanna learn!"_

The conversation echoed in his mind as Naruto looked at Yota's face. The sky was dark enough to reveal whole constellations now, and those shapes in the sky were reflected in Yota's wide, green-and-black eyes.

"Yeah, I remember now. I said I whistled so I could pretend to be happy, 'cause it was better than being mad or sad all the time." Naruto told his first friend.

Yota grabbed Naruto's left hand and started walking back in the direction of the tree house. The blond, not knowing what else to do, hiked through the forest alongside the raggedy boy. He didn't try to talk to Yota, and Yota didn't say anything to him. Throughout their journey back to the giant oak Shikamaru seemed to like looking at, Naruto reflected on the words Yota made him remember.

_"I wasn't really happy though, I just didn't want to be mad or sad anymore. I just whistled so I could pretend."_

_"That's okay!" Yota replied. "You pretended, but I still wanna learn!"_

They arrived at their forest hideaway within half an hour of walking. It was just the right distance into the Konoha forest - deep enough into the woods that no one would stumble across it accidentally, but not so far away that ANBU would be looking around the area. It wasn't close enough to the deeper woods for there to be dangerous animal either. Not so close as to be discovered, but not so far away as to be dangerous. The giant oak and by association their tree house were just right.

Naruto and Yota stood in the circular clearing around the ancient tree. Right in between their oak and the rest of the forest. Sunlight was rapidly disappearing now, with just a few beams of golden orange glowing on the horizon. Yota huddled a little closer to the misfit academy student. He didn't seem to like the dark. However, the raggedy boy shook off a bit of his tension as he turned to face Naruto.

_"I wasn't really happy though, I just didn't want to be mad or sad anymore. I just whistled so I could pretend."_

_"That's okay!" Yota replied. "You pretended, but I still wanna learn!"_

Yota spoke softly as grasshoppers and crickets chirped. "You don't have to pretend anymore. Not now that you have friends. We'll help you be happy for real."

The lisping six-year-old ran to the base of the tree and clambered up the ladder steps. He crawled through the entrance hole and out of sight. Naruto blinked in surprise at the sudden goodbye, but turned and started walking back home.

When he reached the tree swing on the academy grounds again, the sun had already gone down, and the dark night sky was brimming with stars and constellations. Naruto passed by his old wooden swing without a second glance and stepped out of the forest, gazing up at the night sky as he made his way back to the apartment where he lived.

He noticed a small cluster of stars, shaped a bit like a stick figure, and saw himself. He noticed a smaller cluster next to his with a big round 'head'. Yota's image overlapped that in his imagination. Another group, this one wider and slightly more spread out than the other two, showed up a little ways away from his cluster and Yota's. That became Choji, holding a bag of potato chips. Then between his constellation and Choji's, Naruto connected a clump of stars with a spiky 'hairstyle'. Shikamaru, with a hand on his own image's shoulder. Another constellation behind his own and Shikamaru's had an odd 'lump' on it's 'head'. Kiba, Akamaru yipping happily. Two stick-figure constellations that seemed to hold onto each other's shoulders were behind Yota's, and they glimmered into Ino and Sakura. Himself and all his friends, together, laughing and smiling.

_"You don't have to pretend anymore. Not now that you have friends. We'll help you be happy for real."_

Yota's words replayed in Naruto's mind as he looked up at the sky in an odd imitation of Shikamaru.

_"You don't have to pretend anymore. Not now that you have friends. We'll help you be happy for real."_

Naruto climbed up the steps to his top-floor, run-down apartment, pulling a silver key. He slid the key into the lock, twisting to the side and opening the door. He put one foot into his apartment and turned around to look outside one more time. The constellation of friends he made was visible from his door, and the images appeared again in his imagination.

_"You don't have to pretend anymore. Not now that you have friends. We'll help you be happy for real."_

Naruto spoke quietly to himself. "You already have, Yota. Shikamaru. Kiba. Ino, and Sakura. Chouji. And Akamaru too. Everyone, you already have."

_"You don't have to pretend anymore."_

* * *

**AN:** So, any comments? I tried my best to write this chapter well. Please review!


	5. Ch 5 - A lonely meal, a lonely night

**A lonely meal, a lonely night**

Choji Akimichi was a big-boned boy. He liked to eat. A lot. So did the rest of his clan, actually. It was half hereditary, half tradition. He was currently sitting down at his family's enormous dinner table, which could easily fit four to five times as many people as there usually were. Right then, it was just him and his parents, but the entire table was filled with food, lots and lots of food.

_Yum! Dinner!_ Choji licked his lips in anticipation. _Best meal of the day!_

His mother came out of the white kitchen door, carrying the main course - two roast turkeys. The sharp, baked-spice smell of freshly oven-made turkey spread through the air. Choji was salivating at that point. Even though he was only eight, the Akimichi children all had appetites to rival their parents's. That was the hereditary bit. The clan also had a tradition of always having large meals, and so there was the debate of whether the tradition or the genes came first.

_I should sneak some of the leftovers to Yota._ Choji thouht. _And all my friends'll love Mom's sugar cookies!_

"Eat up!" Said mother announced. "The meal's all ready." She sat down next to Choza, Choji's father.

They dug in, shoveling food onto their plates, though not too messily, and after their plates were full, they shoveled food into their mouths. "Mm, mmhmm." Choji tried a bite of the sushi. "Dis ish 'ood!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear." Choji's mother admonished him.

Choji swallowed. "Sorry, Mom." He got to work on a turkey leg. "Mmmm..."

Choza, head of the Akimichi clan, ate more neatly, but not by much. After taking a bite of rice and swallowing, he asked his son. "So, Choji, how was your day?"

"I played - with - my friends." The eight-year-old responded in between bites of dinner. He chugged down a glass of juice and then continued. "I made new ones over the weekend. They're fun."

Choji's mother ate more slowly and carefully, but her appetite rivaled that of any Akimichi. She sliced off a piece of turkey for herself before asking. "Who're your new friends?"

"Well..." Choji wiped his hands on a napkin, before holding them up and counting them on his fingers. "You already know Shikamaru, he's part of our group. And there's Ino, she's the second. Sakura too, she's from a civilian family, but she's the third. And there's Kiba, he's an Inuzuka. That's four. Y-uh, Akamaru, he's Kiba's puppy. Five. And the sixth one's Naruto, he's an orphan."

His parents stiffened at the mention of the last name Chouji mentioned and they started whispering to each other. Choji couldn't hear them speaking very clearly, but he caught a few snippets of the conversation.

"He's the..." Choji's mother, Shefu, said.

"Well..."

"...Always saying..."

"Choji's friend..."

"Chance..."

Choji couldn't figure out what it was his parents were talking about. It seemed to be about his friends. He was worried. The eight-year-old wondered why they were whispering. _What if they don't like Sakura 'cause she's civilian? Or because Naruto's an orphan? I hope not... At least I didn't slip up with Yota..._ He then heard another whispered word that cheered him up considerably.

"Meet..."

_Oh, duh!_ Choji brightened up considerably. _They want me to invite my friends over._

The eight-year-old spoke up. "Can I ask them to come over sometime?" He clasped his hands together pleadingly.

His parents turned to look at his eager face. They glanced at each other, and then Choji's father hesitantly answered his son's question. "Sure... How about Friday night? You can all have a sleepover."

"Yes!" Choji happily cheered. "A sleepover'll be great! Thank you thank you thank you!"

Shefu interrupted his childish cheers with a reminder. "Hold on, Chouji. You haven't even asked your friends yet. They have to say yes, and their parents too."

"Oh. Right!" Choji rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'll ask 'em all tomorrow!"

"Finish your dinner first." Shefu said.

* * *

Ino was sitting at a table with her father in a modest dining room. The wooden floorboards were clean, if a little creaky, and the walnut wood table was polished, but scratched up. Inoichi and his daughter were having a simple bowl of soup, seeing how that was the only thing he could make and his wife, Ino's mother, was working late at the flower shop watering all the plants.

He sipped a spoonful of the too-thin soup and asked his daughter. "So, what's happened today?"

Ino happily responded. "I played with my friends! The ones I made over the weekend. We had lots of fun, and Sakura's getting better at being not shy."

Her father asked. "Who're your friends? You never told me any names before."

"There's Shika and Choji, and Sakura, duh! And the newer ones are Kiba and Naruto!" Ino replied.

Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the Yamanaka clan, was one of the few people who were understanding of the Uzumaki's plight. He held sympathy for the neglected boy, but after hearing of and dealing with all the practical jokes and traps Naruto regularly set, Inoichi was more inclined to a neutral opinion.

Ino's father raised his spoon to his mouth and took another sip of soup before speaking again. "Really? Good to see you're making new friends."

* * *

Shikamaru yawned as he sleepily ate his dinner, which consisted of nothing but plain sandwiches as part of his punishment for staying out too late. His mother stood behind him warningly, spatula in hand, making sure that he ate every last one. Shukaku, Shikamaru's father, watched on sympathetically as he finished off his own plate of sandwiches.

Shikamaru grimaced as he reached for the last sandwich on his plate. _I'm really starting to hate these. Yota'd like some though._

"So..." Shukaku began hesitantly, trying to diffuse at least a little of the tension. "How was your day, Shika?"

After chewing and swallowing a bite of his sandwich, the eight-year-old replied. "Troublesome."

An impatient tapping sound came from behind the academy student's seat, and he didn't need to glance behind him to know that his mother was waiting for a better response. He sighed and continued. "We went over shinobi history in class today. After school, I played with my friends. Choji, Kiba, Naruto, Y-... Akamaru, and those troublesome girls, Ino and Sakura."

Both Shukaku and his wife froze for a moment after hearing the list of names Shikamaru gave, but they quickly went on with life as usual. Time unpaused, and Shukaku yawned and stretched before saying. "That's nice. I'm going to bed."

"Oh, no you don't, dear! You haven't finished your dinner yet!" The jonin's wife said.

As his father sighed and slowly walked back to his seat and plopped himself back down, Shikamaru was thinking. _Should I mention the walkway scene? Nah. They know something for sure, but I might be able to find out more if I wait. I'll ask them, but only if we can't find anything out by... eh, a week from now. _He yawned and finished his sandwich.

* * *

Kiba growled at his steak as he cut it with angry sawing motions using a knife. He tore off a strip of meat and shoved it into his mouth, as if furious with the meal in front of him. It wasn't the food that had him frustrated though, it was the scumbags who didn't do a thing at the walkway. He sawed at his slice of steak with a vengeance.

Kiba's mother, Tsume Inuzuka, noticed his violent grudge against his meal. Though the Inuzuka tended to eat a little more violently than most, Kiba was going at his food like it had left his best friend hanging. She stuffed a bite of her own steak past her lips and ground at it with her teeth, swallowing some of it before asking. "Hey, Kiba. Somethin' wrong?"

The only boy at the table kept attacking his unfortunate dinner and growled a response. "Nothing."

His sister, Hana, at that point a new genin, took an interest in the conversation and said. "Something's eating away at'cha. That's pretty obvious. But what'd your poor food ever do to you?"

"Nothin'." Kiba replied again.

Hana scoffed. "Right. C'mon punk, talking about it might be better than takin' it out on a slice o' dead cow."

The angry eight-year-old stuffed another strip of steak in his mouth and masticated it. He swallowed with a scowl on his face and replied to his older sister. "Fine. I'll talk."

He waited a moment, trying to figure out how to begin, and decided to start with naming his friends. "Well, I made some new friends over the weekend. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura, and Naruto. They're all in my class at the academy." He paused to tear at his steak again before continuing with his mouth full. "Today, we ;ere playing on 'at 'ig walkway, an' Naruto slipped thouh d' railing. He was hangin' over the edge, a'd no 'un elsh-"

"Swallow first, mutton-head." Tsume said.

"Oh, right." Kiba swallowed his food before speaking again. "He was hangin' over the edge, and no one else bothered to come help us pull him back up! Those guys are jerks. Garbage. Dirt! Scum!"

Hana softly interjected her own opinion, which was rather unusual for an Inuzuka. The 'softly' part, that is. She said. "Worse than scum."

"Exactly!" Kiba shouted.

Hana snapped out of a brief trance and looked at him in surprise. "Huh? Oh, never mind that. It's just something I heard a jonin say once. 'Those who abandon their mission are scum... But those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum'."

"That works even better." Kiba stubbornly said.

At that point, the siblings's mother spoke up. "Say, Kiba, is this Naruto kid's last name Uzumaki?"

Kiba blinked in surprised and answered. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

Tsume sighed and replied. "Most of the villagers, shinobi and civilian, don't like him. They hate him for somethin' that ain't his fault."

"What is it?" Hana asked, curious. "I've seen people glarin' at the kid around town, but I always figured he pranked 'em."

Tsume barked a laugh. "Ha! If only that were it!" She became serious again as the continued. "No one's allowed to talk 'bout it, so I can't tell you. Hana, you would've been old enough to remember, but I don't think anyone ever told you. Just forget it."

Kiba's sister shrugged and polished off her plate of dinner before leaving the dining room, presumably to go to her room. She understood that secrets needed to be kept. Even though his sister had left, Kiba hadn't moved a muscle. He looked at his mother pointedly.

She sighed and said. "Can't tell you the secret, but I can tell you this: Make up your own mind about the Uzukami kid. Don't listen to anythin' other people try to tell you. Kid's got a lonely life."

Tsume then stood and left the dining room. Kiba couldn't help but wonder though, _Just what is this stupid secret? Maybe Shikamaru'll know. He's smart._

* * *

Sakura Haruno swung her feet back and forth over the edge of her chair. She couldn't quite yet reach the floor. Her father was working late, but her mother was there to make and eat dinner with the pink-haired girl. As she blew on a spoonful of peas to cool it off, she wondered what her friends were having for dinner. It had to be better than the yucky vegetables.

Her mother picked her own plate of vegetables and asked. "How was your day at the academy?"

Sakura scowled on the inside. Her parents were both civilians, they just didn't understand what being a ninja was all about! They enrolled her in the academy, but fully expected her to drop out once she failed the practical exam. Though if Sakura was honest with herself, she didn't think she could pass the practical portion either. Book smarts were one thing, throwing shuriken and kunai at targets was another. But Sakura was going to prove to both her parents that she could be a ninja! ...If she could pass the practicals. The good news was that there were still two months until then.

"I-it was fine." She replied to her mother. "There was a lesson o-on the founding of Konoha. A-and a little bit about the H-hokage."

"What did you do after school?" Her mother questioned. "You came home late, just like on Friday. And Saturday. And yesterday too."

"I'm just playing with my friends..." Sakura murmured, barely audible enough for her mother to hear her. "We meet every day."

Her mother smiled approvingly at the eight-year-old's answer. "It's about time you made some new friends. Ino's fine and all, but you have to talk to more people. Who are they? Last names too, honey."

Sakura fiddled with her spoon as she mentally prepared herself to omit Yota's name. She didn't know if he had a last name, but she didn't want to even tell her mother he existed. Her mother would just tell the police, and they'd tell the ANBU, and they'd get Yota. She didn't want that. Although she wasn't used to lying or omitting things to her parents, Sakura had to to protect Yota. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and prepared to answer.

"There's Ino. S-she's part of our group." The kunoichi-in-training quietly said. Her mother tried to look at her encouragingly, but to Sakura, it looked a little more predatory. She continued. "A-and there's Shikamaru... Nara, I think, he's kinda lazy. Choji Akimichi, h-he likes to eat."

The little girl's mother was glad to hear those two names. The first generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were famous, even among civilian villagers._ Maybe meeting a ninja clan'll knock some sense into her. It would turn out even better if she could stay friends with the three of them after quitting that bloodthirsty academy. My little girl's finally making connections._

Sakura went on with the list. "A-and there's Kiba... um... Inuzuka. He's got a cute puppy named A-Akamaru."

_A dog? _Sakura's mother wrinkled her nose. She didn't particularly like them, being more of a cat person. _Well, the Inuzuka must be that ninja hound clan. _

"Um, and then there's Naruto... Uzumaki! I think he's an orphan. He's the last one of my friends." Sakura said the last sentence quickly.

"Naruto... Uzumaki?" Her mother narrowed her eyes and a disapproving frown slid onto her face. "Listen to me, young lady, you stay away from that boy."

Now Sakura was curious. Why should she stay away from Naruto? Sure, he was a bit of a troublemaker, but no more than Kiba was. And he was nice. Maybe it had something to do with what Shikamaru and Kiba told her happened on the walkway. But still... why? The curious eight-year-old asked as much. "Why?"

Her mother's hand clenched around her spoon tighter, and the woman's face grew harsher. "Just do as I say. Stay away from him. And tell your other friends too."

Though Sakura was a shy, timid person who avoided confrontation most of the time, she was very protective of her friends. She didn't like what her mother was telling her to do. It was time to be confident for once. "I don't want to. Naruto's nice, and so are all my friends." Even her usual stutter was gone.

"Sakura, honey..." Her mother's expression was flat and stern, her eyes cold. "You're grounded. Come straight home after school. I'll decide when you can play with Ino again."

The girl's timid and subservient nature won out over the urge to argue for her friends. Though she didn't miss the fact that her mother had said 'Ino', not 'your friends'. She didn't approve of the rest of them anymore.

Sakura, at that moment, wanted more than anything else for her mother to change her mind. She wanted to run away, to live in the tree house with Yota for the rest of her life, she wanted to find her father so he could stand against her mother too. But deep in her heart, she knew that that wouldn't matter in the end. No one ever changed her mother's mind. She'd tried before, and her father tried before, her mother's friends tried before they stopped coming. It was impossible, everyone said so. And so, Sakura obeyed her mother. She was grounded. She wouldn't be playing with her friends anymore. She would do as she was told.

* * *

In a run-down, paint-chipped apartment, a little blond boy sat at a small wooden table. There was only one chair. He never needed any more. Four empty cups of ramen were strewn across the table top, and the floor was covered in haphazardly strewn wrappers and homework. There were two doors in that kitchen room. One of them, the slightly muddy one, led outside to the apartment balcony. The other led to the bedroom. It was a small apartment, but it was all the little boy ever needed. It was just him living there, after all.

He finished off a fifth cup of ramen for dinner, and then sat there for a while. Looking out the window of his kitchen, he could see the some of the village, including the Hokage Monument. The little boy wasn't staring at the four stone faces though, for once he was looking at something else. The night sky. He'd made up his own constellation, one that he liked to call '_Friends_'. The little whisker-cheeked blond sighed and thought about grabbing another cup of heatable ramen. He decided against it though.

It was a friendly night, but a lonely meal.

* * *

In an old, broken tree house, another little boy wrapped himself in a nest of blankets. They were thick and warm, and kept the nighttime cold out very nicely. He rummaged around in one of the bags of food his friends brought him, and pulled out a cookie. He nibbled at it, and happily thought of seeing his friends again the next afternoon. He appreciated the food his friends got him, seeing all the trouble they had to go through to get it. He always worried that they'd be caught one day.

He finished off the cookie and cocooned himself even further in blankets, scrunching up a smaller one to use as a pillow. He could see a little bit out of the window from his position in the corner. It was dark out, and frightening. The trees, while friendly, warm, and fun in daylight, were rustling, terrifying snakes in the dark. He didn't like the dark. It always left him so terrifyingly alone. One thing that helped was eating, and he'd recently created the habit of snacking himself to sleep. Reaching into the bag again, he pulled out a juice box.

It was a friendly meal, but a lonely night.

* * *

**AN: **Rio here! I know some of this chapter is a little choppy, but I tried to make it work. Please review, and tell me what'cha think!


	6. Ch 6 - Invitation

**Invitation**

Naruto Uzumaki woke up early the next morning, happy. He slowly sat up in bed and yawned, stretching an arm out to his alarm clock to shut the buzzing thing off. In pale blue pajamas and a silly sleeping-cap, the eight-year-old rubbed his eyes before throwing his old green blanket off to the side. He stepped onto the group and slid his feet into a pair of fluffy slippers, blinking blearily. Though it was Tuesday, and therefore a school day, the kid was eager and wiling to head to the Konoha Ninja Academy.

The Monday morning of the day before, he'd woken up with the nervous fear that the entire weekend had been a dream, that his friends weren't really his friends. That fear had been quickly alleviated when he was greeted by the sight of the Kiba standing on the rooftop space outside, pounding on his window, and shouting at him to get up before they were all late. His other academy friends were waiting right behind the Inuzuka.

Naruto grinned at yesterday's memory before preparing for the new day. He shook off what was left of his sleepiness and sprinted into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Naruto slammed the door open a minute later and dove underneath his bed, coming back out with a few not-quite-clean, but passable, clothes. The little boy picked out a plain, light-grey T-shirt and faded blue cargo shorts, slipping them on before grabbing a small, green, frog-themed backpack, stuffing a few loose papers inside. They crinkled and wrinkled a little, but he didn't particularly care.

Energetically, he bounded into the kitchen and picked up his standard-issue blue sandals, hopping on one foot to put one on. Before getting the other one on his other foot, a banging sound came from his room. His eyes widened slightly, somewhat surprised at hearing the sound two mornings in a row. Naruto ran back into his bedroom, sandal still in hand, to be greeted by the welcome sight of his friends, minus Sakura and Yota. Kiba slid the unlocked window open and stuck his head into the messy bedroom.

The Inuzuka called out. "Hey, Naruto! Get your shoes on and let's go!"

"Isn't it twenty minutes early?" Naruto asked, slightly confused. Not that it mattered, he'd been planning on getting to the academy sooner than usual anyway. Glancing at the clock on his wooden bedside table, he saw that it read 7:38. Twenty-two minutes then. Most people didn't arrive until eight, and class didn't actually begin until a quarter after. The academy building was only five minutes away at a ninja (student)'s running pace.

Choji answered his earlier question. "If we get there early, we can go visit Yota for a few minutes."

That explained it. Though Yota's tree house home was half an hour's slow hike from the academy grounds, it was less than ten minutes away at a good running speed.

Shikamaru, leaning back against the windowsill with his head turned to the side and eyes closed, said. "We're also dropping off some food we managed to swipe from home. You got anything?"

"Oh!" Naruto slipped his foot into his other sandal before exclaiming. "Lemme go check my fridge! Back in a sec!"

He ran through the kitchen doorway again, and yanked open the refrigerator behind the table.

_Let's see here..._ He looked through the contents of the fridge, trying to find something suitable for Yota. _Miso ramen cups, pork ramen, shrimp ramen, spicy ramen, octopus ramen, no... none of that'll work. Yota doesn't have a stove. Or a kettle. Oh!_ He dug out an unopened bag of carrots he'd bought to appease Iruka's concerns about his eating habits. The expiration date was in five days, but they still seemed fresh enough. _These'll work! I hope Yota likes carrots._

The blond dumped the bag of carrots in his froggy-backpack, which he nicknamed Gama-sama, and slipped the green pack onto his back. He kicked the refrigerator door closed before he ran back to his bedroom, where Shikamaru was still leaning in from the outside, and where Kiba was now sniffing at a pile of old laundry. The others were waiting on the rooftop outside the window patiently.

"'kay! I got some carrots for Yota!" Naruto yelled out as he followed Kiba to the open window.

"Carrots?" Kiba wrinkled his nose at the thought. "Well, I suppose Yota needs something healthy to balance out what Choji's bringing."

The Akimichi pouted at that. "It's not that bad!"

"Fried pork rinds, leftover breakfast bacon, potato chips, and a turkey leg." Shikamaru stated flatly.

It was silent for a brief moment, but then the children all burst out giggling, and the morning sunshine almost seemed to laugh with them.

"C'mon, let's get moving!" Kiba shouted, already on the next rooftop over.

"Right!" The others replied.

Naruto grinned, completely and honestly happy. He clambered out the window, using the sill as a step for his foot, and jumped onto the rooftop platform right outside his room. He grabbed the window handle and pulled it closed again with a soft thump. He ran and leaped over the low rooftops to catch up with the rest of his friends.

When he reached Shikamaru and Choji and the back of the group, he glanced behind him and in front before asking. "Hey guys, where's Sakura?"

"Dunno." Shikamaru replied lazily. "She didn't show up at the meeting place today."

Naruto asked. "Isn't the meeting place the roof outside my window?"

"Yup." Was the dry reply he received.

Chouji came up with a theory. "Maybe her parents don't want her on the rooftops. They're both civilians."

"Eh, makes sense." Shikamaru responded disinterestedly. "We can ask her when we see her."

* * *

Sakura stood outside the academy's entrance with her mother. Her father was already at work. Her mother, a naturally silver-haired woman with sharp facial features, steely amber eyes and Sakura's skin tone, stood next to her, dressed impeccably as if for a business meeting.

"I'm going to talk you your main teacher about you coming straight back home after school." Her mother said sternly. "You just get to your first class when other children start coming in."

Sakura nodded timidly. After her mother left, she wandered over to the nearest bench and sat down with a sigh. She didn't like how her mother tried to run her life, but she couldn't stand up to the woman. Sakura wanted to be able to shout out her feelings to the world, but the constant interference from her mother and all the kids who teased her beat down her confidence. She wished she could be as confident as Ino was...

"Sakura!" Ino called out.

The pink-haired ninja-in-training looked up from her kneecaps to see her best friend waving to her from the edge of the academy campus, with the rest of her friends standing around the Yamanka.

The platinum blond yelled. "Come on, we're going to see-"

Shikamaru clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sakura knew what Ino had been about to say. Yota. She brightened up at the prospect, but then remembered that she was grounded. She sighed and walked over to her friends so she could explain.

They rushed over to her as a group, with Shikamaru lagging behind as usual. As they approached, Sakura looked down at her shoes timidly. "Uh, w-well, you see..." She fiddled nervously with the straps of her pink backpack. "I-I'm grounded. Mom said so..."

Ino seemed upset. "But... what about Yota?! You can't see him anymore if you're grounded... He doesn't go to the academy like we do! And we can't play after school anymore!"

Shikamaru kept the coolest head and asked the obvious question. "How long are you grounded for?"

"I..." Sakura looked even glummer. "I dunno... M-Mom said she'd say when I could go out again..."

Choji commented. "Wow... That's bad. What'd you do?"

Ino bopped the Akimichi on the head for his insensitive question. Though to be honest, she was about to ask the same herself. The rest of the group was curious as well, and silently thanked Choji for taking one for the team.

Sakura wasn't sure if she should tell her friends. It involved them, after all. She didn't want them to feel bad. But she didn't want to lie to them either... She glanced at them, hesitant.

Choji was actually a rather perceptive person, and picked up on Sakura's hesitancy. He even guessed the reason for it correctly. "Your mom doesn't like us, does she..." It wasn't a question.

Though ashamed by her unwillingness to rebel against her mother, Sakura nodded a yes.

"..." Silence reigned after the shy girl gave her non-verbal answer. Choji's eyes met the pink-haired girl's, disappointed and sad, but accepting. Kiba looked back at her with silent sadness and regret. Ino met her gaze, cool and collected, if not calm, and ready to rebel. Naruto seemed the most disappointed out of all of them, his face drooping a frown. Shikamaru watched Sakura's face calculatingly, as if trying to put together a puzzle.

Their reactions seemed a little over-dramatic to Sakura, seeing how they'd still get to see her every day at school. The eight-year-old girl was confused, until Choji explained.

Choji hesitantly reached into a pocket and pulled out a pale pink paper envelope. He held it out to her and said. "It's an invitation, to a sleepover with all of us at my place, on Friday. Talked about it with my parents, and they made me write out invitations. Everyone's gotten one 'cept for you and Yota now, and here's yours..."

Her hand gently grasped Choji's invitation and tugged it out of his fingers.

The eight-year-old boy awkwardly continued. "Well... If your mom changes her mind, just come over."

Sakura's other friends reached into pockets, purses, and backpacks, each of them pulling out their own invitations in color-coded envelopes. Kiba's was an off-white gray, Shikamaru's was camouflage green, Ino's was a deep violet, and Naruto's was a bright, cheerful orange that Choji knew was the boy's favorite color. Their names were messily scrawled onto the face of each envelope, in Choji's quick and sloppy handwriting. The invitations held more value to the group of friends than the paper they were made of.

"Oh..." Sakura was surprised. It was no wonder everyone was so disappointed. A sleepover was a major milestone in any childhood friendship, and now she wasn't allowed to come. It would ruin the memory of the whole group being there. "Sorry... I'm sorry..." She mumbled. She herself regretted not being able to go. Sakura didn't like to miss out on things.

"We're gonna go see Yota now..." Ino said. "Can't you just ditch and come with us?"

Sakura rapidly shook her head dismissing the idea entirely. "No! I-it would just make everything worse... My Mom doesn't l-like it when I d-don't listen..." After her initial outburst, the rest of her speech was stuttered out.

"Oh..." Ino backed off the topic. She wasn't trying to upset her best friend. "I... guess we'll just go visit him then. See ya in class, Sakura."

She tucked her dark purple invitation into her purse, which was a matching color. The rest of Sakura's friends did the same, Naruto and Kiba were even being careful with the envelopes rather than shoving them into their pocket or backpack.

Each of them said their own farewell before leaving.

"See ya!"

"Later, Sakura!"

"Bye!"

"Troublesome."

"Arf!"

They ran to the academy building, turning around the corner so they could get into the forest at the boundaries. Sakura stayed standing where she was, near the academy doors, gripping her own pale pink envelope between her hands. She felt terribly alone.

* * *

Yota yawned where he lay under his pile of donated blankets. It wasn't a sleepy yawn of tiredness, it was a bored yawn of boredom. The raggedy boy had woken up an hour ago, rather early, and had just laid there, knowing that he wouldn't see his friends again for hours and hours. The weather in the small area that didn't quite reach above the trees or past the clearing was damp, humid, and suffocating, reflecting Yota's mood as always.

Then, the six-year-old heard a voice that cheered him up immensely.

Naruto called out. "Yota! We're here!"

Yota tossed off his blankets and sat up excitedly. Warm and happy gusts of wind blew through the clearing, getting rid of the damp air. Yota practically jumped for joy as his friends crawled in the damaged tree house through the entrance hole.

"You came!" Yota exclaimed in happy surprise.

Kiba confidently replied. "You bet! We left early so we could drop in for a surprise visit!" He reached into a pocket on his gray hoodie and pulled out a small bag of dry cereal. It didn't have any milk to go with it, but the cereal was a sweet and sugary brand.

The others rummaged around in their own backpacks and pockets, hands coming out with pieces of food. Ino presented Yota with a juicy red apple, Shikamaru dropped a wrapped granola bar onto his blankets, Naruto handed him a bag of baby carrots, and Choji laid out a greasy, plastic-wrapped feast.

"Thank you!" Yota shouted out with a faint lisp. He tackled his older friends in a group hug.

"We gotta get back to the academy soon." Shikamaru said, smiling as he pried Yota off of himself.

Choji stepped closer, holding a tan-colored envelope between his hands. "I got this for you too. It's an invitation I wrote out for a sleepover!"

Yota's eyes widened, and he excitedly grabbed the invitation from Choji, spinning around and cheering. "Yatta! Sleepover!" He then abruptly stopped mid-jump as he realized something. "But... You said not t' go in the village."

Chouji's expression and stance became one of self-depreciation as Yota's words got through to him. "Stupid. I should'a thought about that!"

Shikamaru scowled as he realized the thought hadn't crossed his mind either, and he was supposed to be the planner. He sighed before saying to Yota. "Darn it. Sorry, Yota, but... well, you can't come if it'll get you caught. Choji's parents are ninja. They'll take you to ANBU if they catch you."

Yota looked down at the tan-colored envelope in his hand with a sad expression. "Can't come?"

Kiba dejectedly said to himself as much as to Yota. "Can't come, Yota. You can't come... And Sakura's grounded too." He scowled and complained. "This day just keeps getting better an' better."

As it began to rain on an almost clear day, Naruto looked the most disappointed of all. He'd been looking forward to the sleepover at Choji's house since the Akimichi had handed out invitations as they made their way to the academy.

* * *

_Flashback..._

They ran over the low-rise rooftops of the Leaf Village, which were built for easy ninja access. Academy students were sometimes encouraged to travel by roof after they learned how to, and with parental permission of course. They vaulted over the thin alley between the pet shop and a shinobi weapon store, being extra careful not to fall in the dark pathway.

Once they landed on a flat grey roof they could see the academy from, Choji held out a flat palm in a 'stop' sign. "Hold on! I've got these-" He reached his hands into the pockets at his sides and pulled out a multi-colored assortment of envelopes. "- invitations!"

They all stopped preparing for the next jump and turned to face Choji, who was at the back of the group next to Shikamaru. The chubby boy took the green one out of his collection and gave it to Shikamaru first, before passing out the rest of the envelopes. "I'm having a sleepover, and you guys are all invited!" He happily exclaimed.

"Cool!"

"Fantastic!"

"Bit of a drag, but oh well."

"Awesome!"

"Arf!" Even Akamaru caught the excitement.

Naruto and Kiba were about to tear open the glued flaps of the envelopes, but Shikamaru stopped them. "Hold it. Don't open them. Kiba, it'd probably go down better with your mom if she was the one to see it first. And Naruto-... Well... I suppose you can open it." The Nara scratched the back of his head lazily.

Kiba was about to argue, but then thought the idea over and had to grudgingly agree with Shikamaru. "I s'pose you're right."

Naruto looked at his orange envelope, and thought of tearing the top open. But Shikamaru's suggestion rang in his head again. He wished he had parents to show the invitation to. He shook his head and slid his backpack onto his left arm, unzipping it and gently placing the envelope inside with his right. He pulled the backpack zipper back up and slid it onto his back again, not saying anything about the invitation.

"Let's go." He said to the rest of the group. They tactfully didn't mention opening Choji's envelopes. "I think I can see Sakura!" He pointed towards the academy doors.

_Flashback end..._

* * *

Granted, it had only been fifteen or twenty minutes since then, but Naruto'd really gotten his hopes up for all his friends to be there during that short time. They came crashing down over his head the moment Yota had said, "Can't come".

_At least most of us'll be there... _He thought solemnly, trying and failing to cheer himself up.

Choji said. "Well... you can keep the invitation, Yota, if it helps."

The six-year-old nodded sadly, and the sad sun shower continued, though lighter than it had been pouring down before. Yota sniffled quietly.

Shikamaru spoke up. "If we want to make it to class, we have to go now."

That got everyone's attention on getting back to the academy.

"Oh! Right!" Choji started climbing down the hole, calling up. "Bye, Yota!"

"Gotta hurry!" Kiba, not bothering with the wooden steps on the trunk, leaped over the edge of the floorboards and fell to the ground. He landed squarely on his feet. "See ya later!"

Shikamaru mumbled. "I thought it was cats that always landed on their feet..." As he followed Choji down the entrance hole.

Ino yelled. "Move it, Shika!" As she moved down the ladder at the same time.

"Hey!" Shikamaru tripped and fell down the last three feet to the grassy earth. He rubbed his sore back and muttered. "Troublesome girl..."

"We'll see you this afternoon, Yota!" Ino shouted, dragging Shikamaru to his feet and running off.

It was just Naruto and Yota left in the tree house now, and the eight-year old climbed into the entrance hole. He moved down step by step, and when his head disappeared past the floorboards, Yota moved over to the hole to look down at Naruto moving towards the ground.

"Bye-bye, Naruto." Yota said with a smile, trying to be happy for his friends's sake.

"Bye, Yota!" Naruto waved when he made it to the ground. He looked up to see Yota's face peaking over the entrance hole. "And what you said last night..." He paused before continuing. "You're right. I don't have t' pretend anymore. I'm happy already." He grinned. "Too bad you can't come to the sleepover though..." His happy expression faded. "But maybe someday, eh?" He shrugged before giving one last wave and running after the rest of his friends.

Yota stayed where he was, looking down through the entrance hole at the now empty base of the half-dead oak. He let his fake smile fall as he walked back to his pile of blankets. He still held the envelope Choji gave him. The six-year-old looked at it for a moment before stuffing it in the lining of his cloak-poncho.

_"But maybe someday, eh?"_

Yota smiled a hopeful smile, and then the rain stopped.

* * *

**AN:** Hiya, Rio here! Just so we're clear, Sakura's parents in this fic aren't canon. They're OCs. That's not really important though, what I want to say is that I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review!


	7. Ch 7 - Weatherman

**Weatherman**

Sakura Haruno shifted around nervously in her seat. The chairs and tables of the classroom were messily arranged and crowded to the back, but that didn't particularly matter with the class they had during their first hour. The floors were hard, smooth (if a little scuffed up) wood, and there were foam mats spread out at the front of the classroom, where a teacher's desk would normally be. The white walls and speckled ceiling were kept impeccably clean, though that probably had to do with the fact that they, along with the floor, had to be cleaned at the end of every day.

Taijutsu class could get a little messy, though not with the eight-year-olds. They had the class first thing in the morning because that was when the room _didn't _have red stains in odd places. Most of those were actually from the last-year students messing around when the teacher wasn't in. Of course, the first and second year students younger than Sakura was had taijutsu classes too. But they had them outside for the most part.

Sakura tapped her pencil on her desk habitually. She had her notebook out too, and on a fresh page, but it wasn't all that likely to be used. It was a taijutsu class after all, not Iruka's history lessons. She glanced around the room and the open doorway. Almost everyone was already in class, if not in their seats. The only people missing were her friends and the taijutsu instructor. The teacher was likely late, as he was half the time, and Sakura knew her friends had gone to see Yota for a few minutes.

_I wish I could'a gone with them..._ Sakura thought, melancholy. _But I'm grounded._

She turned in her seat and reached into her open backpack hanging on the back of her chair. Sakura pulled out a pale pink envelope, a shade that almost matched her hair. Her light green eyes read the words messily scrawled on the front of the closed envelope.

'To: Sakura'

She sighed and thought. _I really wanna go to Choji's sleepover... but Mom'd never let me. Why doesn't she like my friends? They're nice..._

Her regretful face stared down at the envelope. The crisp, uncrinkled paper felt smooth and calming. Thinking back on when Choji'd given her the invitation, Sakura remembered the individualized colors of each one. Choji was the one of the group who understood everyone else. He noticed people. Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, it felt like they all had their own roles to play. Choji was the empathetic one. Kiba was the one who fought back. Ino never backed down from anything she set her heart on. Naruto was the funny guy who always knew how to cheer someone up. Shikamaru was the smart one, obviously, no matter how low his grades were in school. Yota was the glue that brought them all together. As for herself... Sakura wasn't sure.

_Maybe I'm just the one who always needs help._ She thought gloomily. _I-I can't even ask Mom about Choji's invitation..._

Suddenly, the eight-year-old had a brilliant idea. _I got it! I can ask my Dad to let me go to the sleepover! If I'm quiet about it, maybe Mom won't even find out! Cha~! _A smile slowly lit up her sad face.

Suddenly, the rapid click~clacking of running footsteps was heard echoing in from the hallway. It was just barely audible over the general din of an unsupervised classroom, but the other students quieted down after hearing them, as if anticipating exactly who was coming. And they probably were. The echoing taps gave way to a relieved sigh as someone appeared in the doorway. And it was... Mizuki-sensei.

_Of course._ Sakura almost rolled her eyes at that. _He hardly ever gets here before the students. Maybe I should call him out on it? _This bold train of thought gave in to her more timid inclinations. _N-no. I'll get in trouble. L-like Naruto always does when he s-shouts it out..._

Though glancing at the old clock above the courtyard door next to the mats, Sakura noted that it was 8:14. Only a minute before class officially started, and her friends still hadn't arrived yet.

Mizuki looked around the classroom and noted all the faces he saw. The five empty seats at the table where Sakura was sitting alone were really quite obvious. He double-checked all the students he recognized and asked the now-silent class. "Does anyone know where Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba are?"

Sakura kept quiet, knowing that if she said anything it could lead to ANBU finding Yota again. Though she did notice that Mizuki hadn't even mentioned Naruto. It was a little odd, but no one ever seemed to acknowledge the blond when he wasn't getting into trouble. Besides his friends and Iruka, of course.

"Hmm." Mizuki thought nothing more of his absent students and started pushing the door closed.

_WHAM!_ The door slammed against the wall as Mizuki jumped back on instinct. In the doorway there now stood Naruto, Kiba, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru, panting fairly heavily, leaning against the door-frame and against each other.

"Heh, -_pant_- we -_gasp_- actually -_wheeze_- made it." Naruto said between swallows of air.

Kiba coughed and slapped his friend on the back, Akamaru shifting from hanging onto his shirt collar back to the Inuzuka's head. "Heh. -_gasp_- 'Course we did."

"Uzumaki, you and your associates were almost late." Mizuki stated, crossing his arms disapprovingly. Not that he should be telling them off. His silver-white hair was still frazzled from his sprint to the classroom. He sighed exasperatedly and exaggeratedly. "Well, you'll all be let off easy this time with a warning. If you're late again, detention for all of you."

He shooed them in the direction of the only empty seats in the room, the ones at Sakura's table. They walked over to the chairs, backpacks bouncing and with a light spring in their steps.

"Good thing we didn't get detention." Choji sighed in relief. "It's my Dad's birthday today."

They set their backpacks on their chairs and each chose a spot, Ino next to Sakura, Choji and Shikamaru on one side, and Kiba and Naruto at the other. It was a six-person table, and they had just enough people to fill it.

Mizuki unlocked the courtyard door and gestured for the students to come outside. They got out of their seats, leaving their backpacks behind, and moved through the doorway in a single-file line. In the courtyard, Mizuki gestured for a non-descript, civilian-family student to come forward and demonstrate basic blocks. The brown-haired boy swaggered to the teacher confidently.

"Basic head block." Mizuki said.

The boy raised his arms crossed in front of his face protectively, his legs standing rigid. Mizuki looked him over up and down, and reviewed. "You're making a common mistake. The upper block is correct, but you're standing too straight. Anyone could knock you over." He demonstrated with a quick punch to his block, which sent the boy tumbling onto his back.

The civilian boy scowled before dusting himself off and going back to his spot in line.

Mizuki called out a different child next, one that everybody knew. "Sasuke, you can demonstrate the whole kata."

Sasuke, the "last Uchiha", stepped out of the line with a scowl on his face. His fangirls were clapping and cheering for him, though Ino and Sakura more quietly than the others. Sasuke assumed a defensive stance and moved from a head block, to a chest block, to ducking down with his arms held out for balance and then sweeping the ground with his leg out for a circular kick.

Their teacher was much happier with that performance and praised the moody boy. "Great job, Sasuke. You're ready for the test early."

He went back to his spot at the end of the line, and Mizuki went back to calling other students out. Shikamaru slouched with his hands in his pockets as he stared up at the clouds lining the sky. He yawned, but cut himself off when he noticed something. _It's warm today. And humid. The air's calm. Hmm..._

* * *

After taijutsu class with Mizuki, the third-year students all had chakra theory lessons with Iruka for an hour. Following that, the kind-hearted chunin let up on them with recess. After that, it was history class.

Iruka droned on and on about the founding of Konoha, doing his best to make it sound interesting. Unfortnately, no one ever really seemed interested in history. "The village was founded by... Who can tell me this one?"

Several children raised their hands sleepily, if only to keep up the appearance of listening, but Iruka called on a pink-haired girl sitting in the back corner rows with her friends. "Sakura?"

She gave the answer more confidently than she usually spoke of anything, and Iruka took that as a good sign that the group of friends were good. "Madara Uchiha and the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju."

"That's correct, Sakura. I see you were listening." He glanced behind him at the clock on the wall. 12:15. "Well, kids, it's time for lunch!"

The class collectively cheered, both for the chance to eat and for the reprieve from history class. Outside, six children sat together, farther away from the rest of the class than anyone else. One of them was stuffing himself, one was feeding a puppy, one was sharing her lunch with another, one was trying to sneak a cookie from someone's lunchbox, and one of them was too lazy to eat.

Iruka watched the six friends sitting away from the rest of the class. Most of the students tended to gather in one large group, with sub-clusters inside. Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and Sakura were just... apart. It didn't seem to be a bad thing though, and the chunin was glad that the village pariah had finally gotten some worthwhile friends. They were all good kids. He pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time. 12:34. They still had some time before ninjutsu studies.

Lying down on the cool, sweet grass, Shikamaru felt a strong breeze blow past as he watched the fast-moving clouds above. He sat up, wide-eyed. _Not good, not good..._

* * *

After the academy let out, Iruka watched children get picked up by their parents, after giving a reminder to Sakura that she had to go directly home. What was previously a group of six was now a group of five. Iruka felt the slightest bit guilty at that. He didn't particularly like the way Sakura's mother thought of things. Watching the eight-year-olds, the teacher noticed that they seemed worried about something collectively. He decided to check on them to see what about.

"What's got all of you looking so down?" The academy instructor asked.

They jumped a little at hearing his voice, obviously not having detected him coming up behind them. Shikamaru was the one who answered. "Nothing much, just talking 'bout the weather."

Now that seemed odd. "What about the weather? It's a nice day." Iruka replied, slightly confused.

"Shikamaru says there's gonna be a big storm tonight." Choji explained.

"With lightning!" Naruto shouted out.

Not one to be outdone, Kiba added. "And tornadoes!"

Ino scoffed and put down Kiba's opinion. "I think that's an exaggeration, bone-head."

Iruka admonished her for the name-calling. "Ino, that's not a very nice thing to say."

"Hey, I'm just teasing him!" The Yamanka replied defensively.

Shikamaru spoke up to clarify the statements. "There's gonna be a big storm late tonight. Really big one. A thunderstorm'll probably start pouring on us a little after ten or eleven."

Iruka glanced upwards, and seeing nothing but thin cirrus clouds and sunny blue sky, replied to Shikamaru. "It's a sunny day, Shikamaru. What makes you think there's a storm coming?"

The Nara shifted uncomfortably for a moment, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Well... weather patterns. The air's humid enough, the wind's blowing in the right direction, and the clouds are a warning for weather change."

The chunin seemed slightly amused and vaguely impressed. "Well, being able to predict the weather is a good skill to have. Guess we'll see if your prediction's right tomorrow morning, little weatherman. See ya all." He waved and walked back towards the academy building to get some grading done.

The five of them glanced at each other conspiratorially, before each of them said their goodbye and left in the direction of their own houses. Iruka turned his head to watch the five children go their separate ways out of the corner of his eye. He smiled at the sight. It really was sweet that they were friends, and he knew it was about time that Naruto finally got some of his own. He did wonder about Shikamaru's prediction though.

_Could it really rain tonight? If it continues into tomrrow that'd put a damper on lessons._ He stopped under the doorway with a thoughtful look on his face. _Hmm, if Shikamaru's right, the kid's a lot smarter than he lets on. _

* * *

Late that night, far past any bedtime, six children met on the rooftop of a rundown apartment. Naruto Uzumaki's rundown apartment to be exact. Said eight-year-old wore blue, shuriken-patterned pajamas, with a sleeping cap munching on his head. Ino was across from him wearing a purple nightgown, supporting a half-asleep Sakura, who was dressed in pink PJs. Choji wore a plain, dark blue, oversized shirt, and Kiba was next to him in a fuzzy gray bath robe. Shikamaru was the only one of the group who looked awake, even while dressed in earth-green sleepwear.

"Guys!" The Nara hissed, keeping an eye out for spies. "C'mon, we already talked over the plan!"

"I-I don't think we s-should'a snuck out." Sakura stammered nervously.

Kiba yawned and then pinched himself awake. "Shikamaru's right." He rubbed an eye. "We need to get Yota here if it's gonna storm tomorrow."

Naruto nodded in agreement with the Inuzuka, even while nodding off every few moments.

"We don't even know there's gonna _be_ a storm, Shika." Ino scoffed.

Choji pointed something out. "You know enough to come here with us."

The Yamanaka flustered at that and defensively replied. "That's not the point!"

Shikamaru cut off the discussion with his own statement. "I'm telling you guys, it's a big storm coming. It could wipe out the tree house, and Yota might get hurt if he stays there. He's gotta stay at Naruto's until this thing blows over. Now let's go." He waved his hand in the direction of the academy, and the group set off.

They moved carefully, though they already knew the route fairly well, as it was... different... at night. The shadows were darker, the corners were sharper, the streets were winding and maze-like. The Leaf Village was a different place in the dark. They didn't even have any moonlight, the clouds were so thick. It took longer than their morning trip had, but the children arrived at the Konoha Ninja Academy soon enough.

At least that building didn't look much different at night. The group of six moved quietly, to a cluster of bushes that their friend had hidden in just two afternoons ago.

"You sure he remembered?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru nodded, completely certain. "Yota knows this is important."

There was an eerie rustling sound to their left, and the six friends moved into badly practiced defensive positions. A shadow peaked around a tree, revealing itself to be Yota. The six-year-old giggled and said. "Boo!"

Sakura still jumped a little, but the rest of the children sighed in relief.

"There you are, Yota." Shikamaru said. "C'mon, we need to move you, and you won't be seen at night."

The raggedy boy looked up through the canopy of branches overhead and observed the dark clouds above. "'is 'bout the weather?" He asked his friends.

Yota received several nods in return, though he seemed uncertain. "Why I have to go now? It's dark... Sure 'bout the rain?"

Shikamaru was struck by a brilliant idea to convince Yota to come. "Think of it as a sleepover, Yota. You'll be at Naruto's apartment tonight."

"Really?" An excited glimmer was present in Yota's wide green eyes once again. "Sleepover! Yatta!"

"Shhh!" Kiba shushed the six-year-old. "It'll be all over if you're caught!"

"Oh!" Yota snickered and shushed himself. "Right! Shhh!"

Snowflakes started falling out of nowhere.

Ino took the lead on the way back, where instead of a rooftop route the took the streets. A ninja village is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be, but you can be sure that the streets are some of the safest. The group of now seven children made it to Naruto's apartment door without incident, unless startling a cat in garbage can counted as an incident. Naruto took out the key from his pajama pocket and slid it into the lock.

_Chkk-unk!_

The door was unlocked and the children slipped inside. It was a little crowded in the kitchen with seven people in it, but most of them would be leaving soon anyways. Shikamaru nodded to Naruto, and the blond-haired boy ran into his bedroom and pulled open a closet door. Diving inside the mess, he came back up triumphantly with a rolled-up sleeping bag in hand. The rest of his friends filtered into his bedroom, and they set up the sleeping bag for Yota. The six-year-old jumping for joy the entire time.

While the set-up was going on, Choji stood apart from the rest of his friends, opting instead to stare outside the window in a rather Shikamaru-like way. Dark gray clouds were shifting in the sky, looking more ominous every minute. The chubby eight-year-old watched as a small drop of rain splattered on the open windowsill.

He spoke up. "Hmm. Looks like you guessed it, Shikamaru."

The others paused to listen, their heads facing the Akimichi's back.

Choji continued. "It's starting to rain. Iruka was right too, you really are a little weatherman."

"It's raining?" Ino scowled. "Great, now we'll get wet on the way back. C'mon Sakura, let's go before it starts pouring." The blond led the pinkette out the open window and into the light drizzle. They were soon out of view.

Kiba decided to leave as well. "I better go too, before my mom or my sister figures out I'm gone. See ya all tomorrow!"

Choji and Shikamaru clambered out the windowsill next, leaving only Naruto and Yota inside the bedroom. Yota called out to the two boys. "Bye-bye, Cho-ji! Bye-bye Weatherman!" He giggled.

Choji hopped to the next rooftop as Shikamaru turned around to look inside and groaned. "I'm never gonna get rid of that name, am I." It wasn't a question. He shook his head, exasperated.

Naruto was the one who replied. "Well, it kinda suits you." He snickered.

"How?" Shikamaru raised a questioning eyebrow.

The blond scratched the back of his head, trying to explain the logic to his friend. "Well... You know stuff." Yota rapidly nodded in agreement. "And you can guess stuff. You make those predictions, and you're always really sure about it. Like a weatherman. It's cool." He paused. "Only difference is, you get stuff right."

Yota snickered at that.

Shikamaru raised both eyebrows at that, rather surprised that Naruto and Yota had such an opinion of him. For once in his life, the Nara wasn't sure what to think. He opted to go over the words later, and go home for the moment. He nodded a farewell to the two friends inside the apartment before turning around and following Choji to the next rooftop over. Soon enough, Shikamaru couldn't see the window anymore.

_Well..._ He wondered. _That's something different. Weatherman... Eh, it could be worse. _

He smiled.

* * *

**AN: **Rio here! I went over and changed things in this chapter a couple times, so please let me know if there are any inconsistencies. Drop a review if you've got the time! :)


	8. Ch 8 - Rain

**Rain**

The very next day, five children were walking to the Konoha Ninja Academy. Walking, on the wet, puddle-covered ground. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had thought ahead enough to bring umbrellas, which they shared with Kiba and Naruto. The children made their way to school, occasionally splashing in puddles to get on the others's nerves. Each of them had the sense to wear rain gear at least.

Shikamaru, while trying not to bump his umbrella into Choji's, asked Naruto. "So, how did your night with Yota go?"

Naruto, running back under the umbrella to avoid the raindrops falling down on their heads, replied. "It was great! We fell asleep too soon, but we played games and made up stories! And now Yota's... uh... I dunno what Yota's doing right now. He had to stay behind, 'member?"

The Nara nodded. Of course Yota couldn't go to school. The teachers would catch him. It was really too bad, he seemed like the kind of person who would really enjoy being at the academy... Suddenly, knocking him off of his train of thought, Kiba ran past him and leaped into a deep puddle with a great big splash, soaking everyone else in the vicinity. Namely, his friends.

"Wah! My hair!" Ino exclaimed.

Choji tried to shake off the water. "Aw, man!"

"Hey!" Naruto took the more active route and splashed Kiba right back. The two loudmouths ran about in the rain, teasing and splashing each other even while on their way to the academy.

Shikamaru sighed, exasperated. Of course, all this was a package deal when it came to friends.

* * *

One Iruka Umino watched as his class ate lunch indoors. When the weather was bad and they couldn't go outside, the classes all had to eat in their classrooms. It tended to get a little messy, though that day wasn't the worst he'd ever seen by far.

Iruka was mostly interested in a group of six students, his favorites, if he had them, which he most certainly didn't. Sakura seemed happier than she'd been the day before, and the children seemed to be chatting about a get-together they were having on Friday. Not that he'd meant to eavesdrop. It was just that, being in a small classroom, you couldn't help but overhear a few things.

"I'm bringing snacks!" Kiba exclaimed to his friends.

Ino loftily said. "So am I, but I'll bring something healthier."

Sakura added. "I-I'll find a game!"

"So'll I!" Naruto interjected excitedly.

Shikamaru lazily stated. "My Mom's baking cookies."

Choji spoke last, trying to convince his friends not to come with anything besides themselves. "I've already got all that at my place though, you guys don't have to bring anything!"

Ino disapproved and haughtily shot back. "Of course we do, Choji! It's - it's... er, cur-tes-y! That's the word! Cur-tes-y!"

Kiba grinned and shrugged, saying. "We're coming with extra stuff, whether you like it or not, buddy! 'Sides, Mom's gonna drag me shopping anyways."

The others all groaned their agreement besides Naruto, none of them particularly enjoying shipping with their parents either. Naruto looked thoughtful and glum at the mention of parents, though he didn't say anything aloud, Iruka noted.

He would've preferred letting the lunch break drag on a while longer to keep observing (not spying on!) those six students, but as the teacher, he had to call them to pack up and get back to learning.

"Alright kids, it's time for class!"

They collectively groaned.

* * *

After school, as Iruka was stuffing papers into a shoulder bag and zipping it shut, he heard the door to his classroom squeak open over the pitter-patter of the rain outside, which still seemed to be going strong. He turned his head and glanced behind him to see an unusually reserved and hesitant Naruto peering in around the door frame. The blond was doing a rather convincing impression of that quiet Hyuuga girl Iruka had trouble getting to talk.

Iruka dropped the bag on his desk and gave the eight-year-old his full attention. "What is it, Naruto?"

"A-ah, w-well..." Naruto's face flushed in embarrassment. He seemed to be debating whether or not he should just leave the room, and his jittery feet showed it.

Iruka decided to talk to his student on a more equal level, bending down onto his knees to look the child in the eyes. "Come on, you can talk to me."

Naruto swallowed nervously, and reached his hand into a side pocket on his back to pull something out from it. He held it protectively for a moment, before reaching it towards Iruka, gesturing for the instructor to take it. Iruka gently tugged the item, an upside-down, unopened, orange envelope, from the eight-year-old's possessive grip. He flipped it over to face up and read what was written on the front.

_'To: Naruto'_

It was in what the chunin recognized as Choji Akimichi's handwriting. He glanced from the envelope to it's owner's hesitant face and back again.

"What's this for? Naruto, this is a letter to you from your friend, Choji." Iruka was confused as to why his student was handing him the envelope.

Naruto twiddled his fingers nervously, rather reminiscent of his classmate, Hinata, and explained."W-well... It's an invitation. From Choji. And almost all my other friends got 'em too. And they're all showing 'em to... t-to their parents... And... I w-wanted... I wanted to show mine... to... you..." He trailed off quietly near the end.

Iruka was deeply touched. He hadn't expected something like this, not in a million million years, though... he might've secretly wanted his favorite student and fellow orphan to one day look up to him as family. Not that he had favorites, of course. Not in a million million years. Iruka smiled, comforting and supportive, somewhere between what he remembered his parents smiles to be like and what he'd have wanted an older brother's to be like.

He ruffled Naruto's hair teasingly and patted his head. "Of course I'll look at it, Naruto. If you want me to, that is. Do you?"

The eight-year-old nodded rapidly, a wide grin plastered onto his face. Iruka took it as the agreement that it was and slid a fingernail under the flap, gently brushing the envelope open. He was careful not to tear it, understanding all too well how much meaning and importance an orphaned child could attach to a simple gift from a friend.

After teasing the flap open, Iruka pulled out the invitation inside. A simple, white card with sloppily if carefully hand-written words was all it was.

_'Naruto Uzukami is invited to a sleepover_

_at Choji Akimichi's house, _

_on Friday, April 25th._

_..._

_The address is;_

_7438, Ribasaido Street._

_..._

_No need to bring anything besides a sleeping bag,_

_just come on over._

_See ya!'_

"Well, now." Iruka tucked the invitation back inside it's envelope before handing them back to Naruto. "You're going to Choji's sleepover?"

Naruto nodded in reply, still so uncharacteristically quiet.

"You'll have to bring something for all of you to enjoy. How about a board game?" Iruka suggested.

The eight-year-old in front of him looked more genuinely happy than the teacher had ever seen before, and the sight of that honest, real smile warmed Iruka's heart. He picked up his bag, filled with papers to grade, and slung it around his shoulder before grabbing the dark-grey umbrella next to his desk.

The umbrella itself wasn't all too remarkable from the outside, and whenever Iruka saw it lying around his apartment, he thought of it as grey. Grey like storm clouds. What was odd about it was the curved inside surface of the umbrella, which was a complete contrast to the gloomy outside. Inside, it was a happy, if not bright, blue. It wasn't a sunny blue, or a baby blue. It was... it was a different kind of blue that made him happy nonetheless. And, as Iruka and Naruto walked down the academy walkway side-by-side, with the rain pattering over the umbrella in the teacher's hands, Iruka found that he had a name for the blue at last.

A rainy blue.

But still a happy blue.

Still a good blue.

Rain wasn't bad, even if most people thought so. A lot of people hated the rain, couldn't stand it, closed up shop at the first sign of it. But there were also a few who didn't. A few who didn't mind the rain, a few who liked watching it, and a few who liked to play in the rain. A few who liked the rain. Those few were enough. Enough to prove that if you spent some time in the rain, you could find something good in it. Even if a lot of people ignored that and went on hating the rain. Those few were enough.

After all, the rain didn't seem to mind.

* * *

**AN: **Rio here! Sorry about the shortness of the chapter, but I was struck by the last scene and I had to write something for it, even though it was quick. What I really love about writing this fic is the sweet scenes I get to write, and all the symbolism I can use. So much fun! It's really lovely. I don't know why there aren't more childhood fics in the fandom. Well, I'm starting to ramble now, so I'll get to the end and just say: Please review!


	9. Ch 9 - A broken home

**A broken home**

The next day, Thursday, April 24th, just after the academy let out for the day, six children and a nin-puppy stared at the wreckage in front of them, visible in the bright afternoon sunlight.

They gaped. Their eyes were wide. Even Shikamaru seemed surprised, though he was the one who'd predicted the possibility. Kiba and Akamaru were statues. Ino had her hands covering the gasp that threatened to emerge from her mouth. Choji had dropped his bag of chips. Naruto, for once in his life, was standing completely still. Yota was perhaps the least shocked of them all, and not nearly as concerned. He blinked once, twice, at the ruin before him, but then started wondering what his friends were doing just standing there. If Sakura had been present and not grounded in her room, her reaction might've been to collapse to her knees.

But she wasn't there to see the disaster. The terrible results of Shikamaru's completely accurate prediction.

What little there had been of the old tree house before the storm was now gone. Blown away overnight during the harshest of the weather, while everyone was asleep in their beds. The half-rotted wooden boards that had been Yota's home had come off of their support. You could see shallow gouge marks where the nails had gone into the tree bark. The old, makeshift home was no more, leaving only a few small scars.

Shikamaru thought there was something symbolic about that, but couldn't quite name what of exactly.

_If the tree is Yota, and the tree house is what we tried to repair... Meh, I'm just overthinking this._

That thought snapped him out of his stupor for the most part, and Shikamaru finally spoke up, albeit a little dazedly.

"We should try to salvage something."

The others came to their senses at his suggestion, but before anyone could make a move, Naruto asked. "Um, what does 'salvage' mean?"

Ino harrumphed and replied. "That's easy! It means... Uh, Shikamaru, you tell him!"

The Nara sighed exasperatedly, but gave a small smile as he noticed the gloomy and heavy tension disappear with those two typical comments. He explained. "It means to find what you can of what's left of something."

"Oh!" Naruto wasn't the only one to exclaim.

"What are we waiting for? Move out!" Ino barked out, commanding the troops jokingly.

Most of the group just shrugged and drifted aimlessly off. Shikamaru climbed up the ladder steps, which were thankfully still nailed to the tree trunk. Choji was moving around the base of the tree, picking up a few pieces of splintered debris. Naruto and Kiba seemed to be competing with each other to see who could yank to most broken boards out of the bushes. Ino herself was helping Yota pick up the scattered remnants of Monday's snack run.

She was surprised to see the six-year-old grinning, despite the fact that his makeshift home was destroyed.

The Yamanaka couldn't help but ask. "Yota?"

The raggedy boy answered. "Mm?"

Ino questioned. "Why aren't you upset about the tree house?"

Yota seemed genuinely surprised to hear the question. His mouth gaped open in an 'O', and his eyes widened in mild shock. He dropped the bag of chips he'd picked up and his arms swung loose by his sides. The homeless child looked rather like Ino would've expected him to when they'd first seen what was left of the tree house.

"Oh." Yota said. "Hmm... Dunno." He shrugged, contemplating his own thoughts and the reasons behind them. "Used to moving. Lots. And seein' weather-broken things."

Ino blinked. "Really? Well, I just noticed that we don't know much about you. Can you tell us about what you did before we met you sometime?" She asked eagerly.

Yota shook his head slowly, and went back to his salvage pile. He turned away from Ino's curious gaze. As she watched, his hands clenched into tight fists and his entire body language tensed. A teardrop leaked from the corner of his eye, unseen, and then fell to the ground, leaving a damp spot. That was seen. The rest of his friends noticed the two of them standing there, and the suddenly damp air, and came over to see what was going on.

The six-year-old's shoulders heaved with a quiet sob, and everyone stepped a little closer as it began to rain on a sunny day.

"Yota?" Choji moved even closer to their friend, a concerned expression on his face and a comforting hand reaching for the younger child's shoulder.

"NO!" Yota screamed, whipping an arm out to bat Choji's away.

_Smack!_

Flesh slapped against flesh almost in slow motion and the Akimichi quickly yanked his stinging hand back to himself with an astonished look on his face. The others moved forward in concern and surprise, and Yota stepped backwards with tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. The youngest of the group then rapidly shook his head back and forth with his eyes squeezed tightly shut, trying to rid himself of a nightmare. When Yota opened his eyes again a moment later and saw the shocked faces of his friends ganged up in front of him, he turned and ran.

"Yota!" Choji, the most empathetic of the group, called out.

"Wait!" Shikamaru held out a hand in the universal sign for 'stop', as if that could convince their runaway friend to turn back.

"Yota!" Naruto cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted.

"Come back!" Kiba waved his arms above his head wildly.

"It's okay!" Ino did the same as Shikamaru, but all their yelling and waving was for naught.

"Rarf rarf rarf!" Even Akamaru tried to call their wayward friend back.

But Yota didn't come. He disappeared into the trees, and the group of six minus one soon lost sight of him. Naruto, Kiba, and Ino ran forward, prepared to go after Yota, but Shikamaru stopped them.

"No, don't." The Nara told them. "He'll come back on his own."

"But-" Naruto began. "He was... going towards the village."

"What?!" Shikamaru was taken by surprise. How had he been oblivious to that? "Okay, change of plan. We need to keep Yota away from the village!"

* * *

They ran through the trees and short undergrowth, getting to the academy grounds soon enough. The building was locked shut, so Yota couldn't have gotten in, and they spread out across the campus, hoping that their friend had had the sense not to go farther into the village. The search was panicked, hurried, and incredibly slow going. The eight-year-olds were small children who knew plenty of hiding places they could fit in, but Yota was even smaller and thinking much more rashly when he'd been passing by.

The six-year-old could've been rushed enough to actually run through the village, though they desperately hoped that wasn't the case. Ino especially.

_This is all my fault! I shouldn't have bothered Yota about his life! Argh, I'm an idiot! If Sakura were here, she'd have stopped me. _Ino lifted the lid of a garbage can by the academy doors and looked inside. No Yota. _It's all my fault if he gets caught!_

_Wheeeoooeee!_

Shikamaru blew a sharp whistle to get everyone's attention on him. He was standing on the chalky white sidewalk going past the academy grounds, and when he saw everyone's gaze on him, the Nara pointed to a damp patch. Which led to another damp patch. Which led to a trail of damp patches. Yota had run away, and the raggedy child had taken his rain with him. The puddles would be immensely helpful in tracking down their runaway friend and bringing him back to safety. Indeed, those splashes were a stroke of luck.

If only they weren't leading into the village.

* * *

After nearly half an hour of running 'round the village every which way, following Yota's trail and doing their best not to attract too much attention, they came to a thin set of stairs. Those stairs were recessed into a pristinely painted white wall and led to the door of a first-floor apartment. The amount of puddles along the trail had thinned out, until there were just barely enough to lead them to the apartment.

Walking up the stairs and to the door, the five worried friends were in a single-file line, Shikamaru in the lead.

Suddenly, Ino exclaimed in shock of a surprising revelation. "Wait a minute! This is Sakura's place!"

They glanced at each other uncertainly at that, knowing that if it had been Sakura or her father who'd brought Yota in, he'd likely be fine, but her mother on the other hand... Too many questions with too many wrong answers and she'd turn him in. Shikamaru hurriedly rang the doorbell.

_Dong~!_

The sound echoed within the apartment and down the small staircase, and the sound of thumping feet racing for the door was heard. The click of a lock turning and _Schhkk! _of an old door being yanked open forewarned the reveal of the apartment's current sole occupant to be... Sakura.

"G-guys!" She gasped. "You're here! Uh, c-come in!" She waved them in and her friends followed her.

They trailed a few splotches of mud onto the spotless wooden floor, and Sakura wildly and panickedly flailed in the direction of a shoe mat, before running off to grab a roll of paper towels. By the time she got back, her friends were trying to pull muddy sandals off of wet feet. The pink-haired girl tore a few squares from the paper towel roll and started wiping at the bits of mud on the floor. Everything was neat and tidy again quickly enough, and she led her friends to a sitting room.

Naruto, Kiba, Choji, and Ino crowded onto the soft and fluffy long couch, while Shikamaru preferred a somewhat stuffy-looking armchair. Likely simply because it wasn't crowded. Sakura remained standing out of courtesy, just like her mother had always told her to. Her friends didn't think anything of it.

"Sakura, where's Yota?" Shikamaru asked, directly to the point.

"O-oh! Right!" Sakura could've smacked herself for being so stupid. Of course they were looking for Yota, why else would he be running through the village? "Yota!" She shouted at the ceiling.

From the carpeted stairs to their right came Yota pattering down, a smile now on his face rather than the hurt and guilty look they'd last seen. When the six-year-old caught sight of the other guests, he cheered. "Yatta! You came! You came! Go back now?"

The five academy students who'd been tracking him for the better part of playtime gave sighs of relief. Yota hadn't been caught, and the trail of puddles he'd left were already evaporating and easily explained away as leftovers from the thunderstorm the day before.

Choji was the one who answered Yota. "Yeah, Yota. We'll go back now."

Yota opened his mouth to add something else, but then hesitated in a rare moment of self-restraint. He asked hopefully. "Back to... Naruto's house?"

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, as eager as Yota was to have a roommate.

Shikamaru stopped the celebration. "Hold it, that won't work."

The others seemed rather confused. It had worked for two nights, hadn't it? Both children seemed happy with the arrangement and it gave Yota somewhere warmer to stay. Better than an old tree house, right? It was Sakura who asked. "Um... Why not?"

With a sigh, the Nara explained, speaking to Naruto more than anyone else. "Naruto, you're an eight-year-old living by yourself. There's someone who checks up on you, isn't there?" It wasn't quite a question, more a statement of fact with a question mark attached to the end out of courtesy.

"Er, yeah. The Old Man." Was the still-bewildered reply he received.

Shikamaru went on. "Well, this old man's gonna notice someone else's been living in your apartment if it keeps up long enough."

"Oh..." There were disappointed sighs all around.

The dark-haired genius looked at the sad faces looking back at him and gave a sigh of his own, saying. "It could work for a while though. When does your old man come to check on you?"

Naruto seemed deep in thought for a moment, holding up his hands and counting off his fingers. "Um, he comes to visit... um... every two weeks? It's always on a Saturday. Oh, and the next one's the day after tomorrow!"

"See? That's what I mean. Your caretaker's coming by, and if Yota's there, it'll cause problems." Shikamaru crossed his arms and looked at Yota pointedly.

"Oh, fine..." Naruto looked grumpy at that statement. Or perhaps it was just being proven wrong. "But... when _can_ Yota stay over then?"

Shikamaru thought it over and replied. "That depends. What time does that old man come to check on you?"

"Um... He gets there right before lunch, and we always go to Ichiraku's together! Then, he either lets me follow him to work or leaves me with a creepy-eyed guy who always gets picked on."

Kiba interjected his own question, asking. "But isn't checking in on you his job?"

"Nah!" Naruto shook his head no. "He's a ninja! But all I've ever seen him do is paperwork."

"Like Iruka-sensei?" Choji questioned.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded, a smile bright on his face at the thought of his two favorite adults.

Before the conversation could veer off any further, Ino said. "A-bup-bup-bup! Shush! Shikamaru, just tell us where Yota's staying!"

"Naruto's place today and tomorrow, then he'll have to hide at the oak soon as we signal on Saturday morning." Shikamaru responded.

That plan was agreeable to them all, and so it was unanimous that it be used. The guests made their way back to Sakura's entrance foyer and slipped their shoes back on. Sakura felt sad to see them leave, as she was still grounded indefinitely. The only upside to that was the fact that her dad was allowing her to go to the sleepover the next day.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!" She waved as her friends raced down the steps, receiving five enthusiastic responses and one lazy humph. She closed the door.

* * *

**AN: **Ta-da~! I finally finished this chapter. Sorry about the length, but it didn't really want to be written... I'll try to make the next one longer. Please leave a review!


	10. Ch 10 - Bullies, a shopkeeper, a wood

**Bullies, a shopkeeper, and a wooden goldfinch**

Friday at last! Every kid in their right mind would be bursting with energy and anticipation for the weekend ahead. Iruka, stopping his last six students before they followed in their classmates's footsteps by rushing out the front doors, knew this. It didn't surprise him when Kiba impatiently tapped his foot and crossed his arms, assuming an accusatory expression complete with a glare and pout that looked absolutely hilarious on his eight-year-old face. The chunin didn't want to aggravate his student though, so he didn't mention it.

Ino hung at the back of the group, Sakura by her side, and asked. "What's the hold-up, Iruka-sensei? Why can't we leave already?" She was trying to sound polite, but a very noticeable amount of irritation was evident in her voice.

"Well..." Iruka began, looking at each member of the group individually before continuing. His gaze lasted longer on Sakura though. "I just though you'd all want to know that Sakura's free to hang out with you today." Now he was looking at Sakura in particular. "A message came through from your father, and you're no longer on house arrest! Not just for today either, you're completely free to go!"

The news sank in, and all six children cheered, Sakura the loudest of all.

"C'mon Sakura!" Ino dragged her pink-haired friend past their instructor . "You haven't visited in forever!"

"ByeIruka-senseiseeyalater!" Kiba sputtered out the words as he ducked underneath the chunin's outstretched arm blocking the door and hurried off after the two girls.

Naruto ran after Kiba, but paused to turn and wave a goodbye. "See ya Monday!"

Choji calmly walked out into the sunshine, turning to give a quick wave and a muffled "Later!" though a mouthful of potato chips before leaving after the others.

Before Shikamaru could go the way of his friends and run around the corner of the building, Iruka decided to make a comment. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"

The Nara replied. "Uh-huh." He kept lazily moving in the same direction Choji had gone, arms supporting the back of his head as he watched the sky.

"Kinda cloudy though."

"That'll clear up by nightfall." Shikamaru responded absently to the chunin behind him, his feet walking him further away every moment.

Iruka chuckled fondly and said. "Another prediction then, little weatherman?"

Shikamaru didn't deign to answer with a verbal reply, though he flopped one hand through the air in a lazy, and faintly annoyed, farewell before rounding the corner of the school building. Iruka watched him turn out of view, and then the teacher stepped back into the academy and drifted towards his classroom to grab a few things before leaving. He whistled a short tune, remembering when he'd been that young, and silently wished his favorite students a fun-filled afternoon. Not that he had favorites, of course.

* * *

They all caught up to each other a little over halfway to Yota's oak tree, where the six-year-old would've been waiting since that self-same Friday morning. Ino, Choji, Shikamaru, Naruto, and Kiba had escorted Yota to their beloved forest clearing on their way to the academy, dropping him off with the few non-perishable foods they'd managed to scavenge from his blown-away snack stash and a picture book to keep him busy. The very short list of what they'd managed to retrieve from the debris of Yota's tree house was given to Sakura verbally, along with their plans to keep looking for more.

Soon enough, they arrived. Yota, upon spotting the six of them, especially joined by Sakura again, yelled in glee. "Yatta! You're here!" He jumped once and spun around in a circle, which was fairly dangerous considering his position in the tree branches.

"Yota! Careful!" Shikamaru shouted up.

The raggedy boy ignored him, opting instead to run across the branch, getting closer to the end of it, and yanking something out of a cluster of green buds. He tumbled back to the sturdier area of the trunk where the tree house had once nestled, and got back up, waving what he'd yanked out of the branches in the air.

"Lookit! Lookit wha' I found!" He excitedly exclaimed. Yota clambered down the wooden steps of the trunk ladder and ran towards his friends as fast as his legs could carry him the moment he touched earth. "Lookit! Treasure!"

The six older children clustered around the youngest, and Choji gently lifted the item from Yota's outstretched hands. Shikamaru, standing next to the Akimichi, slowly and carefully lifted a hand to pull the dog-eared bottom corner straight. After touching it, as if to make sure it was real, he smiled.

"Heh. This's treasure, alright."

And it was, in a way. The object Yota had found in the branches of their ancient oak tree was the one thing that had come with him besides the clothes on his back. A slightly rusty steel pole with a tanned and tattered cloth attached to it, proclaiming to all who read it the words, "Weather for Sale". It might've been junk for everyone else in the world, but to seven children in a special clearing, it was treasure.

...

...

...

"One..."

Seven young and determined faces were all focused on one thing and one thing only.

"Two..."

Seven small hands raised a tightly gripped metal pole into the air, the afternoon sun glinting off a silver corner and illuminating an old, torn cloth attached to it.

"Three!"

Seven children, all in one sweeping, grand, and simple motion, thrust a newly rediscovered treasure into soft, green, earth. The metal pole of Yota's sign had embedded itself at least three inches in the ground. And it was staying, if a bit wobbly. The six taller figures backed away a foot or two, and the smallest one twisted the pole back and forth while trying to force it deeper into the dirt. Slowly but surely, it stuck. He lifted his hands off the steel surface, and the group of friends watched their flag stay fluttering steady.

"Yatta!" They collectively cheered together, adopting one of Yota's favorite words. The group then collectively plopped themselves down on the grass.

Every one of them took a moment to simply appreciate the day. It was beautiful weather, with sunny blue skies overhead and soft, white clouds drifting by on a gentle breeze. The same warm breeze blew through the group, caressing skin and ruffling hair. Yota didn't actually have anything to do with this. The breeze carried with it a green, earthy scent, one that brought suggestions of rain and flowers and spring. The day really was a wonderful one, as close to perfect as things could get. Yota'd found that tattered "Weather for Sale" sign, the old oak made it through the storm, Yota's blankets were all found, and they'd already cleaned up all the debris so there wasn't any more work to do.

It was the kind of day you could simply sit still and appreciate. Of course, that grew boring.

"Sooo..." Ino drew out the single syllable. "What now?"

She received a chorus of very similar answers, ones that were absolutely no help at all.

"I dunno."

"No clue."

"Um..."

"Dunno."

"Meh."

There was a pause of silence after that, and it was during this time that Yota looked back and forth between his friends, trying to see if any of them had a suggestion. No one did. And so, he gleefully shouted out his own.

"Le's go to t'e vil'age!" His rapid and excited speech left out several consonants, but the meaning was very clear nonetheless.

Ino responded. "What?! No way!"

"Nuh-uh!" Naruto vehemently agreed with the negative sentiment.

Kiba pointed out. "They're cracking down hard on people from outside the village right now! We can't take you there!"

Sakura glanced between Yota and Ino uncertainly.

While Choji personally thought that Naruto, Ino, and Kiba were right on the money, he didn't voice it. Knowing his best friend Shikamaru as well as he did, the Akimichi knew that the Nara was actually thinking over the suggestion, and was likely going to join Yota's side. Why, he didn't know, but he could tell from Shikamaru's expression that he did. And so, Choji kept quiet.

Choji was right. Shikamaru said. "I think we ought'a bring Yota into town."

Another pause of silence, though this one was three parts disbelieving, one part hopeful, two parts undecided, and one part self-assured confidence that no one else was thinking things through.

It was suddenly broken by Ino. "Why?"

And that was the crux of the matter. With Shikamaru, the question was never "what?" it was always "why?" or "how?".

Shikamaru explained. "Well... For one thing, Yota needs new clothes."

Yota glanced at his dirty, smudged, blue shirt, and his tattered brown cloak, and the yellowing bandages on his head. He self-consciously tried to brush a grass stain off the hem of his tunic.

"And," Shikamaru continued. "We might as well show him around Konoha, so he won't get lost if he's ever there again. Plus, we can disguise him. Besides, it's the least we can do, seeing how he's the only one who can't make it to Choji's sleepover tonight..."

Now there was a guilt trip. The others glanced at each other, then at Yota, and then Shikamaru, and then Yota again. Eh... they might as well.

* * *

Half an hour later, seven children were standing at the end of a small side-street in the market district. The street they'd just walked down was devoid of other people, as most of the street's buildings were unused and dusty "For Sale" signs hung in the shop windows.

Ino, rather unsubtly, tried to divert her friends's attention. "Oh, would you look at that! The corner shop next to the main street's been sold! I wonder who's bought it? All these dusty old buildings are pretty empty, whoever bought the store could probably set things up by themselves in a day or two. Oh, what do you think it's going to be? Maybe a dress shop?" She made exaggerated hand movements as she spoke, and an unrealistically dreamy expression crossed her face. Ino really was an awful actress.

Shikamaru sighed. "Ino, we all agreed to this. Stop trying to distract us. And we can't go back now, Yota's already in costume!"

And Yota was definitely wearing a disguise. A horribly mismatched one, for sure, but quite good considering what they had to work with and the fact that no one working on it was older than eight.

Yota now had on Choji's over-sized green jacket over his blue tunic, and his tattered brown cloak had been left back at the oak. His bandages were wrapped around his legs rather than his head, and the purple, rope-like sweatband that had gone over that was now tying back his tangled muddy-beige hair into a ponytail reminiscent of Shikamaru's own. His eyes were horribly recognizable though, so they'd made a quick stop at Naruto's apartment to dig out a pair of plastic sunglasses that hid his discolored whites easily enough.

Now, they were about to hit the streets of Konoha.

Ino wore a worried expression upon her face as they glanced at the street ahead of them. On a road map of the village, the intersection they were at would've been T-shaped, and the seven children would've walked up the stem of the T, and stopped just before it met the top. Even Shikamaru, the most confident of their plan, was a little hesitant. But in the end, it was Yota himself who stepped forward into the busy throngs going about their business in the market district.

Nothing happened at all, besides him almost falling into an old lady. No ANBU agents suddenly leaped out of the shadows and grabbed him. No elite jonin appeared out of nowhere with kunai in hand. Nothing.

The tension evaporated like water droplets on a hot pan, and Yota was soon joined by his friends. The group of seven stuck close together to make themselves more easily noticed and therefore less jostled about by all the grownups out. When they'd counted up all their pocket money, the total sum had turned out to be just enough for a few simple outfits and perhaps a small toy. So, they headed for the nearest clothes shop with a discount sign in the window.

While Ino and Kiba were debating between themselves the merits of fur-lined jackets and T-shirts, Choji took the lead and made a path through the crowd. The Akimichi pulled open the door when they reached it, and they filed in one-by-one. The store, Yuyake, was managed by a pair of sisters in their early thirties, and they quickly spotted the small crowd at the entrance. The seven children were promptly kicked out.

"Hey!" Ino glared through the glass window at the two shopkeepers. When they ignored her and went on organizing clothes racks, the Yamanaka huffed and turned on her heel. "Hmph. Jerks."

She noticed a fist-sized stone on the ground, picked it up and spun around, ready to throw it at the shop window angrily. Her arm, moving fast with the smooth grey stone in a firm grip, was suddenly stopped in it's movement. Sakura had caught her by the elbow mid-throw, and in her surprise, Ino dropped the rock, letting it fall back to the dusty ground. In almost the same instant, Sakura snatched her hand away from Ino's arm, letting it fall to her friend's side once more.

"N-no." Sakura shook her head back and forth. "T-that'll get us all in t-trouble."

"Sakura." Ino blinked in shock, her expression blank and bewildered, but then a moment later, she smiled. "Thanks."

Sakura Haruno was just as surprised at her actions as Ino was, if not more so. "Um... Y-you're welcome." Her voice sounded more confident than before.

Ino glanced around, and saw the rest of their friends already moving on to another store, hopefully one that would let them shop there. She grabbed Sakura's wrist and pulled her towards them, the two girls weaving their way between adults with the deft skill born of being a child in a world of grown-ups.

"C'mon." Ino said to her quieter friend. "Let's go catch up with the boys."

They ducked to the side of a man on a bike pulling a delivery cart behind him filled with cardboard boxes. As the twirling noise of the bicycle's wheels faded away, Ino slowed her pace to a brisk trot, and Sakura followed suit. The Yamanaka then pulled her friend forward again, but kept her own pace, bringing Sakura to a steady walk at next to her. They were moving side-by-side.

"Sakura." Ino began, softly but in a sure and confident tone of voice.

"Um, yes?" Sakura wondered what it was Ino was about to say.

Ino went on speaking, looking her best friend directly in the eye. "Thank you." At the pink-haired girl's confused expression, she clarified. "For stopping me back there. I know I said it then, but still... thanks. That just made me realize... that we really really need you. To keep us from doing anything stupid. Or... well, me, at least." Her pride was wounded to admit that, but she was going to be honest throughout her speech.

"You remember yesterday? When you found Yota?" Ino continued, avoiding Sakura's gaze now. "I... He was upset because I asked a stupid question. We... well... I don't always think things through. And when I don't, you hold me back. And... Thank you. For that." She ended her speech on an awkward note.

Sakura didn't know how to reply to that. It was an honest and heartfelt speech, if a little clumsy, and it made her feel... proud. Proud that she had a place, that she had a friend who needed her... It was a nice feeling. Before she could attempt an even more awkward response however, Naruto shouted back at her and Ino.

"Hey! C'mon! We found another place!"

Sakura found herself running with Ino again, shimmying, scurrying, and slip-sliding through the masses of people in the market. Although Sakura was panting a little from the effort, she kept pace with Ino, who wasn't running as quickly as she could've. This time, Ino wasn't dragging Sakura along behind her. They were side-by-side.

* * *

"Aw, man! That's like, the twenty-second one!" Kiba complained loudly. Not that he was counting. Akamaru whimpered, and the Inuzuka gave his nin-puppy a scratch behind the ears.

True enough, the seven children had been through twenty-two stores, eight stalls and one tent included. After five clothing stores evicted them, they'd started trying at random any shop that looked interesting. Every single one had either kicked them out or ignored them, and the salesman in the tent even started packing up to move somewhere else. It was incomprehensible. Illogical. Unavoidable.

People gave them all _looks_. Cold, cruel looks, hot and angry looks, sickeningly sympathetic looks of pity, and worst of all were the harsh, unseeing looks of indifference. It was like everyone held them in contempt just for breathing the same air.

Naruto wasn't very good at hiding emotions. Everything he felt showed on his face and everything he thought he was shouted to the world-or at least to Iruka. The guilt was as obvious and eye-catching as tar on the Hokage Monument. His friends could all plainly see that he blamed himself for their horrid treatment at the hands of the shopkeepers.

Kiba, after noticing that his insensitive comment had made things worse, winced and apologized to the blond boy. "Oh... Sorry, Naruto. Didn't mean that at you."

He received no reply.

"It's the stupid people's fault that they're bein' so mean." Kiba continued, trying to pry any sort of response from his melancholy friend.

Silence.

"Oh, look!" He pointed ahead at a store, one that actually sold clothes this time. "C'mon, let's try this one!"

It didn't have a sale going on, but at that point they just wanted to get their mission over with successfully. Although morale was low, hope was ever-present, and everyone allowed themselves a secret feathery hope that maybe this was a shop that would let them stay.

"Alright." Shikamaru conceded. "Let's go!"

Ino ran past the others and arrived first at the door. The people walking on the street ignored her for the most part, until the rest of the group caught up and joined the Yamanaka in front of the small clothes shop. Then, they glared at the seven children collectively before hurrying on their way. Yota seemed the most apprehensive about going in the store, after Naruto, of course. The six-year-old didn't move from his spot in front when Ino pulled the door open.

"C'mon, Yota. Maybe we can actually get you some new clothes this time." Ino said, trying to persuade the youngest of the seven.

At her support, Yota walked in, and the rest followed suit within seconds. The inside of the store was almost obsessively neat, every single item having been organized first by color and then by size and brand. They barely had enough time to notice this before they were ushered out by an old lady with a broom. Upon having the door slammed in their faces for the umpteenth time, the group of friends was feeling rather depressed.

No one made a sound as they went on walking down the street.

The Inuzuka allowed it this time, keeping uncharacteristically quiet along with everyone else. The group of seven continued their mild pace walking through the market district, though by now it had been over forty minutes and were quickly coming back to the very same point they'd started at. Within moments, the left turn down the small side street was visible again through the thinning throngs. They'd come full circle.

Shikamaru, who'd been in the lead, slowed down as they neared the very same intersection they'd started at, and spotted an empty bench nearby. He strolled in that direction, and sat himself down at one end with a quiet sigh. Choji plopped down next to him, and Yota next to Choji. Sakura took up the last open space and the others just leaned against the back of the bench. The usual noises of the market district seemed filtered and muffled through the gloom of disappointment and hurt.

They sat there, quietly, for a while, each person keeping silent for fear of setting someone else off. Yota didn't like the new quiet. His friends stared listlessly at the people passing by, but Yota watched them instead. Half of them just looked sad and disappointed, though Naruto's expression was a guilty one and Kiba seemed angry. Shikamaru's face was passively blank.

Yota sighed softly, so much so that not even those sitting next to him noticed. He himself felt sad. Not because of the fact that they hadn't managed to get him anything new, but because the shopkeepers all seemed to hate them and that that made his friends sad.

He had no idea why everyone kept kicking them out, though the stares were achingly familiar. Then, a small, twittering bird with golden-brown feathers on its back, bright gold on its belly, and white stripes on its wings landed on the ground in front of him, between his hanging feet. That brought a memory to the forefront of his mind.

* * *

_Flashback..._

Yota, eager to see the small village they were passing through, begged an uncle for some money. The man, wearing clothes very similar to Yota's own, though obviously bigger, consented with an amused smile. He handed the little boy a few bills and coins, and sent him on his way.

Yota gleefully ran down a dusty street. It was small and the buildings on either side were rather old and ramshackle just like the rest of the village, but it was interesting. His small clan had traveled there because they'd heard the place was having a dangerously dry summer. They'd fixed that with a few special jutsu combined with their weather-controlling kekkei genkai, bringing rain to the small patch of civilization. Now, they were staying for just another day before moving on.

Slowing his fast trot to a slow jog, Yota finally saw the people walking on either side of the street. They stared at him a lot, some curious, and grateful, some fearful, and some just tried to ignore him. When they figured out that he'd noticed their stares, everyone quickly looked away and Yota moved on.

He happened upon an open stall selling small toys and miscellaneous things. Yota stood on the tips of his toes to see over the counter. The man running the stall had a cream-colored, cloth, tool pouch tied around his waist filled with all sorts of tiny little tools meant for building and repairing toys. Tiny hammers, minute screws, a thumb-sized screwdriver, a little bottle of super blue and another one of rubber cement. There was a pocket knife too, clipped onto the outside, one of those thick ones with the multiple things inside. Yota didn't remember the man's face, but the tool belt was fascinating.

"Looking for anything in particular, dear?" The shopkeeper asked, his voice kind though his words were choppy, like he wasn't used to the language. And he didn't gawk like the other villagers. He seemed nice.

Yota glanced at what was on the shelves or hanging from the ceiling of the toy stall. Everything was simple, but it was so inviting and most were lovingly handmade. There were dolls in faded cloth, and smoothly sanded wooden figurines, and baskets woven out of grass, and little wooden puppets with carefully made joints. There were brightly colored origami kits, and delicately stitched stuffed animals, and ceramic puzzles, and leather balls made to last.

The six-year-old's green eyes were drawn to one thing. One of the wooden figurines. "Wha's'at?" He asked, pointing at the carving. "That bird?"

The shopkeeper plucked the figurine out of the loop of string it hung from and set in on the counter in front of Yota. "Oh, this one? This is a carving of a bird called a lesser goldfinch. You don't see it too often here." His voice was soft, and wistful.

Yota gently lifted the carving from the counter and cupped it in his hands like it was a real bird.

The shopkeeper continued, as quietly as before and just as sentimental. "It doesn't come from here, or anywhere nearby. It's first home is far, far away. But it did come here, and it's found a new home for a while."

"Did you ever see its firs' home?" Yota asked.

He received an amused chuckle in reply, and then. "No, no. I'm from far away too, but we're not from the same place. Would you like to see a real one, dear?"

Yota nodded, smiling an eager smile.

The shopkeeper bent down and reached under the counter. Shuffling noises indicated things being moved around. At last, he grabbed something, and slowly and carefully pulled it out onto the floor of the shop. He stood up, still holding it, and lightly set it down on the counter-top. It was covered by a lavender cloth, but Yota felt certain it was a bird cage. The shopkeeper lifted the cloth, and sure enough, it was a bird cage. Inside, hopping about, was a lesser goldfinch.

"Ooh..." Yota poked the door of the cage with his finger.

"I keep meaning to let it out." The shopkeeper said fondly as the bird twittered. "But I've never found the right place. They eat sunflower seeds and need a green habitat. This village is too dry though, dear lord. But I promised I'd find it a home one day, and it's the right thing to do."

Curious, Yota asked. "Promised who?"

"Myself." Was the reply. "When I bought this goldfinch from a seller who had no idea what it ate, the poor bird. I promised myself I'd let it free one day, poor thing."

Yota tugged the money his uncle had given him from his cloak and asked. "How much is it for th' wooden one?"

"Oh, not much at all, dear." The shopkeeper covered the cage again and placed it back underneath the counter. "Those coins are enough."

Yota picked the coins out before shoving the bills back into his pocket. Suddenly, a stone flew out of nowhere and bonked the boy on his head.

"Ah!"

Yota dropped both his coins and the bird figurine, and they both landed on the ground. The shopkeeper, startled, leaned over the counter and pulled the six-year-old back to his feet.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" He dusted the child off. "What was that?"

Both of them turned their heads to see a gang of older children right across the road.

"That's the freak!" A scruffy, mean-looking boy no more than eleven shouted. His friends stood by him and jeered at the two at the stall.

A shorter one with dirty green-black hair who looked to be a sidekick to the leader yelled out. "Hey! Toy guy! Hand over the baby weather-freak!"

"Oh, dear." The shopkeeper flustered about, trying to diffuse the situation. "Now, don't do anything rash, children. If you could just talk this out-"

He never got to finish the sentence, as the gang started pelting them both with sticks and stones picked off the dusty street.

_Schunk! Schunk! Schunk! Thwack!_

The shopkeeper had tried to shield Yota with his arm, but a particularly sharp stone crashed against the little boy's collarbone, bruising him, and knocked him to the ground. Yota sniffled, and when the shopkeeper stepped out of the stall and tried to help him back up again, he instead brushed past the man and ran away in the direction he'd come from. His clan had comforted him after he made it back to camp and they left early. That was the last village Yota ever saw before falling victim to a fatal fever. He never saw the shopkeeper or the wooden goldfinch again.

_Flashback end..._

* * *

Yota frowned. The storekeepers in Konoha reminded him a lot of the gang of children who'd pelted him with rocks and twigs back then in the countryside village. The exact same kind of closed-minded, mob psychology was apparent, only it was all the worse here because they were adults with a bigger target. And the target wasn't just him anymore, it was his friends too. There wasn't even a shopkeeper to make things better.

He was very close to crying. Yota absolutely _hated_ the kind of attitude that the Leaf Village, or at least the market, seemed to be full of. He kept his tears inside though, and the drizzle that would've resulted nonexistent. But he wasn't above a quiet sniffle as he watched the lesser goldfinch between his sandaled feet.

Then, two shoe-covered feet came into his view, just about a foot away from the goldfinch. They weren't sandles, they were proper civilian shoes, with a dark rubber sole and chestnut-colored cloth. Looking up from the feet, he saw a tall, thin man in a tan-colored trenchcoat and a floppy, wide-brimmed, brown hat. Yota's friends were watching him too, and with a justifiable amount of apprehension after the treatment they'd just been through.

The man bent down so that he was at Yota's eye-level, and held out a bundle of folded clothes. Ones that he recognized as being from the store that had most recently kicked him out.

There were three tunics that coincidentally looked rather similar to the one he wore underneath Choji's jacket. A red one, a grey one, and a blue one. There were also two pairs of cream-colored cargo shorts. The clothes looked a size too big, but Yota didn't really care about that. What he was wondering was what on earth this stranger was doing handing them to him.

"Here." The stranger said softly, placing the bundle on Yota's lap. He wore a warm smile on his face, the rest of which was mostly shadowed by the brim of his hat. "I saw-and, er, heard- you all being kicked out of that shop. Seemed terribly unfair, to me."

The man glanced up and seemed to look Yota in the eye then, even through the six-year-old's sunglasses. When he did, Yota caught a brief glimpse of wire-rimmed glasses with odd, rectangular lenses. He caught a glimpse of a wavy lock of hair of a color he couldn't quite make out. He caught a glimpse of sky-blue eyes with a soft, welcoming kindness in them that reminded him of his friends's academy teacher.

And then, the man awkwardly coughed into his hand and pulled the brim of his hat low in a strange gesture of goodbye. He turned and left as quickly as he came, the back of his trenchcoat disappearing into the crowd.

It was quiet for a moment.

"Huh," Choji said. "Well, there's bound to be nice grown-ups if there are mean ones." He snacked on another potato chip.

"Mm-hmm." Shikamaru nodded.

"Guess so." Kiba admitted.

"Eh, why not?" Ino shrugged.

"Mmm." Sakura nodded as well.

"Well, duh!" Naruto exclaimed, his usual cheerfulness back again. "There's Iruka-sensei, and the Old Man, and Teuchi, and Ayame's kinda a grown-up, a-"

Shikamaru interrupted. "We get the point."

Choji noticed the longer shadows at there feet and the yellowing light. He said. "Guys, it's getting a little late."

Ino glanced at the sun's position in the sky and replied. "Not that much."

"Yeah, but my parents said I gotta get home early if I wanna have that sleepover." Choji responded, slightly let-down. He slipped off the bench and gave a half-hearted wave farewell. "See ya guys later." He started walking away.

"Come to think of it," Ino said. "I still need to find a sleeping bag." She waved over her shoulder as she joined the throngs of people moving one way or another. "Buh-bye!"

After Ino'd gone, Sakura felt a little awkward just sitting there, and followed her after a quick. "B-bye."

Shikamaru sighed. "My mom's gonna nag if I'm out late before Choji's sleepover." He got off the bench. "Later, guys. Kiba, make sure Naruto and Yota get back to his apartment."

"Hey! We can take care of ourselves!" Naruto protested, more to keep Shikamaru around a little longer than anything else.

Kiba ignored the blond and saluted in response to Shikamaru's order. "Sir, yes sir, General Shikamaru!"

"Oi!" Shikamaru was slightly miffed. "Quit calling me that!"

"Fine." Kiba huffed. Then, a mischievous grin grew on his face. "Weatherman."

Shikamaru pretended he hadn't heard and left in the direction of his home.

"'kay, c'mon guys, let's go!" Kiba began play-marching down the street, joined by Naruto.

Yota slid off the bench, but opted to walk instead, still carrying the bundle of clothes gifted to him by a kind stranger. He contemplated his thoughts on Konoha once more.

There were adults who wouldn't abide the presence of Yota and his friends in their stores. It was unfair, and it was mean. The village's ANBU didn't want him there for some reason, which was unfair too. But then again, his friends came from this village, and they were good friends, so the village had to have good in it too.

A gang of bullies, and a wooden goldfinch.

_And,_ Yota thought, glancing down at the bundle of clothes and thinking of the man who'd given him the charity. _A shopkeeper._

He wasn't running away this time.

* * *

**AN:** Whew! That's got to be the most I've ever written at once. 5,000+ words, wow. That's a record for me. I hope the chapter was enjoyable!


	11. Ch 11 - Sleepover - part 1

**Sleepover**

The sun was just barely floating over the horizon when Choji Akimichi started laying things out for his sleepover. His bedroom was... well, messy, to say the least, and so, his parents had told him to set up for his friends in the living room.

The living room itself had a rectangular base, and it was fairly empty, having been cleared of it's usual sparse furniture for Choji's sleepover. The ceiling was hardly a ceiling at all, with most of the space taken up by a giant skylight window that gave a view of the few wispy clouds above. His father'd always told him it could slide open and a ladder could be pulled down. The hardwood floor was made of polished maple, and the walls were an off-white cream color. There were four doors in the room, one on each wall.

One was a traditional-looking, bonsai-patterned, paper-screen door that you could mostly see through from inside the room. That one led to a now rarely-used hallway where he'd played as a toddler. Another, on a wall perpendicular to to that one, was really just a doorframe with a green bead curtain hanging in it. That led to the entrance foyer, which had a name much grander than it was. Across from the foyer doorway was a door that led to a simple bathroom. Perpendicular to that, and directly across from the paper-screen door, was a glass sliding door that led to the backyard. There, fireflies danced like will-o-wisps and the maple tree's branches were lit with beautiful, red-gold fire every day at dusk during the summer.

But, what with it being April rather than June, there were only pale moths gathered around a lantern hanging from the roof's ledge and the sunset was slightly to the left of the maple tree.

Never mind that though. Back inside, Choji rocketed to the paper-screen door, and slid it open. He leapt into the hall, shutting the paper screen behind him, and pattered down a few yards to reach a small closet door. He pulled that open as well, and rummaged about inside while on his knees. The eight-year-old stood back up with a wobbly, multi-colored tower of board games and toys that looked at least as tall as he was. He carefully shuffled away from the closet a few feet, delicately balancing his stack. Choji then realized that he'd left the door open and reached a foot out to his side.

_Shunt!_

The door slammed shut, but Choji now had the nasty predicament of carrying a swaying stack of games taller than he himself was while standing on one foot.

"W~o~a~h!"

His knee wobbled, and the stack of games began tilting to the left.

"Aaa~aah!"

He hopped to the other foot, while at the same time trying to get back to the living room's screen door. The stack began leaning the other direction.

"Wa~a~ah!"

Choji jumped to the foot he'd been standing on at first, desperately trying to prevent his stack from falling down. He stiffened his leg, trying to keep still, and, by a stroke of luck, it worked. The stack of board games didn't fall.

"Whew." He sighed in relief, relaxing even while in the awkward position of having one foot on the ground and the other knee helping to support a burden.

His grounded leg wobbled. The stack tilted.

"Eee~aahh!"

Choji hopped to his other foot. The stack leaned the other way.

"Nya~eh!"

Hop. Tilt.

"Ee~hehh?!"

Hop. Tilt.

"Gwa~ahhh!"

Hop. Tilt.

He continued all the way back to the living room that way. Hop. Tilt. Exclamation.

After what felt like an eternity but really couldn't have been any more than a minute, Choji got back to his living room's sliding door... And it was closed.

_I really didn't think this through._ He thought, sweat-dropping at the sight of the handle.

"Aw, man!" He groaned aloud.

_But I can work through this. Right?_ _Okay... first thing's first. Need an idea... Think like Shikamaru! He's good at fixing problems! If I were Shikamaru... I wouldn't've gotten up in the first place. Dang. Okay... Need a plan... Got it! It'll be easy. Step back. Raise a foot forward. Nudge the door open. Easy as pie! Mmm, Mom's cinnamon cream pie... No, Choji, focus!_

He stuck the tip of his tongue out the corner of his mouth in concentration, attentive on the problem at hand. Or foot, as it were. He stepped back, raised a bare foot, careful to stay balanced, and slipped a toe into the gap between his living room sliding door and the wooden frame.

_Slowly... slowly... Take your time..._

The door shifted to the side an inch. Two. Three. Four.

His knee wobbled.

"Aaahhh!"

Choji fell backwards, his arms flinging over his head, the stack of games with it, and his backside was quickly headed towards the floor.

_Schkmp!_

His back hit against something, but it definitely wasn't the floor. For one thing, it felt distinctly foot-shaped, and he hadn't heard the games clatter to the ground either. Choji glanced over his shoulder.

His father, Choza Akimichi, mighty leader of the Akimichi clan, skilled master of their family's taijutsu techniques, and a well-respected and revered member of the council and community, was in much the same embarrassing position his son had been in moments before. Only his father's foot was supporting Choji rather than tweaking open a door. He'd caught the stack of games before they fell to the ground, and caught Choji too. However, Choza had had the sense (and the size) to lean his back against the wall to support himself.

"Oh... Hi, Dad!" Choji tried to laugh off their mutual embarrassment, scratching the back of his head.

"Hello, son." Choza attempted to give a half-hearted wave but the stack of games began tilting again. "Grrk!" He drew back his waving arm and tried to nudge the teetering tower back into submission. Just barely managed it. "Er, could you get the door, son?"

"Oh! Right!" He put his weight back into his own two feet and grabbed the wooden handle.

Before Choji pulled the door open, he thought. _Glad Ino isn't here yet. She'd tease me for tripping like that._

Before Choji pulled the door open, Choza thought. _Glad Inoichi isn't here yet. He'd tease me for this awkward position._

Somehow, it seemed as if they each knew what the other was thinking, and met each other's eyes. They laughed.

"Gwa-ha-ha!" Choza boomed, guffawing. "Son, be more careful the next time you want to carry this much stuff. Come to think of it-where did this all come from?" He looked the tower of toys he was holding up and down.

Choji trailed off in his spasm of chuckles and replied. "Well, it was in the closet down there." He pushed the screen door open the rest of the way before gesturing with his arm.

Choza blinked, surprised. "The white one with the two caterpillars painted on it? One green, one blue?"

"Um, yeah." Choji took the top half of the tower stack from his father's arms, leading the way inside the room.

His father followed with the rest of the games, setting them in the corner next to where Choji dropped his. Choza glanced behind his shoulder, in the direction of the closet door, warily.

"Dad?" Choji asked, curious.

"Hmm?" The head of the Akimichi clan turned back to look at his son again. "Oh. Right, you're probably wondering..."

Choji nodded.

His father continued. "There's a story behind that door, son." He looked at the pile of games. "And a story of where those came from. Or rather, who." The dimming light and long shadows cast an eerie glow on his face.

"What's the story?" Choji asked, eager to know.

A dark and serious look flew over his father's face for a brief moment and then left. Then, it came back and camped there. _Do I really want to know?_ Choji wondered. _It must be something serious..._

Choza's expression suddenly brightened. He said. "You know what, I'll tell you tonight, with your friends. When it's good and dark, and everyone feels like hearing a good story!"

Akimichi the younger could've fallen down and face-faulted. He was about to complain, but was interrupted.

_Ding~Dong~!_

* * *

**AN: **Rio here! I hope this chapter was enjoyable, even though it was short. Please leave your thoughts in a review!


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